President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday that his government will “immediately exercise its right of self-defense” if North Korea violates its territory again, as he announced a set of countermeasures against the North which sank a South Korean warship in March.
“From now on, the Republic of Korea will not tolerate any provocative act by the North and will maintain the principle of proactive deterrence,” Lee said during a televised address to the nation.
"If our territorial waters, airspace or territory are militarily violated, we will immediately exercise our right of self-defense.”
Lee defined the Cheonan’s sinking as “a surprise North Korean torpedo attack,” saying that it “constitutes a military provocation against the ROK.”
