S. Korea’s top military chief calls for readiness against N. Korea threats

May 8, 2015
Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, left, salutes with his South Korean counterpart Adm. Choi Yun-hee during the honor guard welcome ceremony at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, left, salutes with his South Korean counterpart Adm. Choi Yun-hee during the honor guard welcome ceremony at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) — The top military officer called for a watertight readiness posture Friday against threats from North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction.

Adm. Choi Yun-hee, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), made the remarks during his visit to the Chemical, Biological, and Radiological (CBR) Defense Command in southern Seoul.

“Our military has no luxury to loosen our readiness posture even for a moment facing the North Korean forces, which possess a large amount of CBR weapons,” Choi said. “It is necessary to be fully prepared to deter and counter the various types of future CBR threats as well as nuclear weapons both in the peacetime and during wartime.”

North Korea has been focusing on its nuclear technology and ballistic missiles as well as biological and chemical weapons to compensate for its conventional military deficiencies.