Park Geun-hye has warned troops to be alert along the border
South Korea’s president has convened a meeting of security officials after the shock execution of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s uncle.
Ahead of the meeting President Park Geun-hye warned of possible “reckless provocations” by the North and called for increased border vigilance.
Last week’s execution of Chang Song-thaek left the region in a “grave and unpredictable” situation, she said.
Mr Chang, a key figure, was executed for allegedly planning a coup.
The move – together with the recall of a North Korean business team from China – prompted concerns that Mr Chang’s associates were being purged as part of a campaign by Kim Jong-un to consolidate his power.
China’s foreign minister, meanwhile, said he believed an “important change” was taking place inside North Korea.
China – which in state media has called for Kim Jong-un to visit Beijing – was “closely watching” the situation, Wang Yi said.
‘Business as usual’
“Given the latest development in the North, it is uncertain in what direction its political situation would evolve,” Ms Park said early on Monday.
“We also can’t rule out the possibility of contingencies such as reckless provocations,” she added.
The president later met her foreign affairs and security officials in a specially convened session to discuss events in the North.
Meanwhile, North Korea has been keen to present an image of business as usual, the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Seoul reports.
A government official in Pyongyang said on Sunday that the country’s economic plans would carry on undisrupted.
At the same time, Mr Kim has continued with his usual public appearances, visiting a military design institute and a construction site.
The young leader’s uncle was executed on Thursday after appearing before a special tribunal, state media said.
He was accused of multiple crimes, including damaging the economy and trying to build a power-base.
Mr Chang had been seen as a power-behind-the-throne figure and a mentor to Kim Jong-un.
His execution has sparked fears of military action by Pyongyang as a way to build unity in the country, our correspondent adds.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called the execution an “ominous sign” of instability inside North Korea.
“It tells us a lot about, first of all, how ruthless and reckless he is,” Mr Kerry said of Kim Jong-un. “And it also tells us a lot about how insecure he is, to a certain degree.
“The insights that we have tell us that he is spontaneous, erratic, still worried about his place in the power structure, and manoeuvring to eliminate any potential kind of adversary or competitor, and does so obviously ruthlessly.”
In a separate development, Mr Chang’s wife – Kim Jong-un’s aunt – was named to a state committee on Sunday, indicating that she remained in a position of influence.
Kim Kyung-hee is the younger sister of late leader Kim Jong-il.
Analysis
Lucy Williamson BBC News, Seoul
Several North Koreans – calling clandestinely to friends in the South – have reported that indoctrination sessions have increased and that people are being required to write letters of loyalty in support of the country’s leader.
There’s an overall “state of fear” said one defector with several contacts inside the North. At least one organisation operating undercover there has suspended all projects in the wake of the execution. People there are “surprised and baffled” about what’s going on, an employee said.
But others say that North Korean residents are sceptical of the purge. One trader told a contact here in Seoul that “half the public in North Korea believe Chang Song-thaek was a scapegoat – purged to take the blame for the country’s economic failures”.
He also said that, away from the public indoctrination sessions, North Koreans were discreetly talking amongst themselves, asking how Kim Jong-un could do this to his uncle?
Chang Song-thaek
- Born 1946; marries Kim Jong-il’s sister in 1972
- Joins Korean Workers’ Party administrative ranks in 1970s
- Elected to Central Committee in 1992
- Sidelined in 2004, but rehabilitated in 2006
- 2011: Gets top military post under Kim Jong-un
- Nov 2013: Dismissed from his position
- December 2013: Executed as a “traitor”
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