South Korea flexes military muscle on Armed Forces Day as Yoon warns North faces 'end of regime'

President Yoon Suk Yeol said that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it attempts to use nuclear weapons in an Armed Forces Day ceremony address Tuesday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun pass by a transporter erector launcher carrying Korea’s secretive Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile during a ceremony marking the 76th Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Tuesday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol said that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it attempts to use nuclear weapons in an Armed Forces Day ceremony address Tuesday.

"If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the ROK-U.S. alliance," Yoon said, referring to the acronym for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea. "That day will be the end of the North Korean regime."

Yoon gave the address in a ceremony marking the 76th Armed Forces Day held at the Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.

Noting that the North Korean regime "continues to insist on a path of regression and downfall," Yoon said it only pursues "hereditary power succession, turning a blind eye to the miserable lives of their people and threatening us with nuclear weapons and missiles."

Yoon said Pyongyang has committed "despicable types of provocations like sending trash balloons and GPS jamming attacks" and "now gone so far as to claim a 'two hostile states' theory, even denying the possibility of reunification."

He also said North Korea has been engaging in illegal arms deals with Russia, defying international norms.

"Our military will immediately retaliate against North Korea's provocations based on its robust combat capabilities and solid readiness posture," Yoon added, calling on Pyongyang to "abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them."

Last month, North Korea made a rare disclosure of its secretive uranium enrichment facility, in addition to sending more rounds of trash-laden balloons to the South.

President Yoon Suk Yeol, front, and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun inspect troops during a ceremony marking the 76th Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi. Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

In his address, Yoon also highlighted that through the Washington Declaration from his bilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in April 2023, the South-U.S. alliance has been "upgraded to a true nuclear-based alliance."

Yoon pointed to the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) as "building a fully integrated extended deterrence."

He said Washington's "strong commitment to extended deterrence is being realized through action," noting that last year a U.S. nuclear-capable submarine visited Korea and a B-52 strategic bomber landed on the Korean Peninsula for the first time.

According to the Defense Ministry, some 5,300 troops and 340 pieces of military equipment were mobilized for the Armed Forces Day ceremony, which was an opportunity for South Korea to show off its newest weapons.

The South Korean military showcased its secretive Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, capable of delivering powerful retaliatory strikes against North Korea, on two transporter erector launchers for the first time during the ceremony.

The ground-to-ground missile, capable of carrying a warhead weighing up to eight tons, is a key asset in South Korea's Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) plan, part of the military's "three-axis" deterrence system. It can reportedly penetrate and destroy underground facilities, including bunkers more than 100 meters (328 feet) deep, which could potentially serve as hiding places for the North Korean leadership.

The Hyunmoo-5, while a conventional weapon, has a destructive power comparable to tactical nuclear weapons, and thus has been dubbed a “monster” missile. During the ceremony, the tires of the nine-axle, 18-wheeled vehicles turned at the same angle, demonstrating its crab-crawling abilities and maneuverability.

A U.S. B-1B Lancer strategic bomber, flanked by two F-15K fighter jets, flew over the air base during the ceremony in a show of joint force with South Korea amid North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

The B-1B, dubbed the "Swan of Death" by the South Korean media, can fly at Mach 1.25 and carry up to 57 tons of munitions.

A U.S. B-1B strategic bomber, front, escorted by two F-15 fighters, is seen flying over the Korean Peninsula, as it appears for South Korea’s ceremony marking the 76th Armed Forces Day at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Tuesday. [NEWS1]

South Korea’s Air Force also flaunted its KF-21 fighters, F-35A stealth jets and Black Eagles aerobatic team.

The ceremony also featured for the first time multi-legged robots, laser based anti-aircraft weapons, unmanned aerial vehicle and autonomous underwater vehicles, the presidential office said.

The ceremony was attended by some 1,200 guests, including 1950-53 Korean War veterans and their descendants, as well as 5,100 public observers who applied in advance.

On Tuesday, South Korea launched its new Strategic Command to coincide with Armed Forces Day. The new military command will oversee South Korea's key strategic assets to better deter North Korean threats. It will work with the U.S. Strategic Command, in charge of America’s nuclear arsenal, for joint deterrence efforts.

People take photos as a military parade featuring Hyunmoo missiles passes through Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul Tuesday. [YONHAP]

President Yoon Suk Yeol, front row center, marches alongside South Korean troop as a massive military parade marking the 76th Armed Forces Day passes through Gwanghwamun Square in downtown Seoul Tuesday. [NEWS1]

A major military parade passed through Seoul on Tuesday afternoon for a second consecutive year, leading to road closures in the downtown area, including Gwanghwamun, where large crowds gathered to watch.

Yoon also marched alongside troop during the massive military parade for a second year and greeted the crowds at Gwanghwamun Square.

Earlier Tuesday, North Korea warned through state media that it will take "corresponding" measures against the deployment of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Kang-il, North Korea's vice defense minister, referred to reports that a B-1B bomber would fly over the Korean Peninsula to conduct a demonstration flight to coincide with South Korea’s military parade, referring to it as the “Pentagon's confrontational attempt to permanently deploy nuclear strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula" to intentionally demonstrate its "upper hand in strength."

Kim added in an English-language statement in the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that a “measure of unpredictable strategic nature corresponding to it should be an inevitable and legitimate right of a sovereign state.”

North Korea can review “such fresh action plans any time and carry them out,” Kim said, without further specifying such “methods of adding serious concern to the security of the U.S. mainland.”

On Monday, North Korean Ambassador to the UN Kim Song stressed that Pyongyang will “never bargain” its "national prestige” in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

He asserted that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons are a legitimate means of “self-defense,” while criticizing the United States and its allies for their joint military exercises.

Kim further labeled the Seoul-Washington NCG as an “anti-DPRK nuclear war machine,” using the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

UPDATE, Oct. 1 : More information added about the South's military parade and the North's response.

A soldier forms a heart with his arms as a military parade marking the 76th Armed Forces Day passes through Gwanghwamun in downtown Seoul Tuesday. [YONHAP]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]