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Yoon made the remarks as he convened an annual meeting of the
central integrated defense council that brings together the
military, government and civil defense entities.
In recent weeks, Pyongyang has ramped up tensions on the Korean
peninsula with missile tests and verbal threats against Seoul
and Washington, while scrapping its decades-long goal of a
peaceful reunification and redefining the South as a separate,
enemy state.
Yoon warned that North Korea could stage "numerous provocations"
to intervene in the upcoming election and called for a tighter
security posture.
South Korea is set to elect new members of parliament on April
10, with 300 seats up for grab.
"The North Korean regime is going through fire and water solely
for the sake of maintaining its hereditary totalitarian regime,
while blatantly ignoring international law and U.N. Security
Council resolutions by trading arms with Russia," Yoon told the
meeting.
Russia and North Korea have overseen a series of high-level
exchanges since last year amid growing criticism of Pyongyang's
role in the Ukraine war by allegedly shipping artillery and
missiles to Russia.
Both North Korea and Russia deny the accusation and also the
charge that Pyongyang has been receiving advanced technology for
developing strategic military capability from Moscow in return.
Yoon called for greater cooperation between his country's
military, government, police and private actors, as well as
additional measures to prevent possible cyber attacks on
national infrastructure, and attempts to disseminate false
propaganda.
"Cyber attacks can paralyze national functions and people's
daily lives in an instant. Fake news and false propaganda may
also cause great chaos in society," he said.
Seoul's defense council meeting this year was specifically
designed to examine practical ways of responding under various
scenarios to North Korean provocations, including long-range
artillery and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, Yoon's office
said.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party,
which has criticized what it called Yoon's hardline North Korea
policy, expressed concerns over a possible armed clash near the
border.
He called for restoring inter-Korean hotlines, which the North
have not responded to since Yoon took office, and warned Yoon
against staging "war games" for political gains.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Ed Davies and Christian
Schmollinger)
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