South Korea vows fast response to North

South Korean president Park Geun-hye said today there would be strong and swift military response to any North Korean provocation without regard to political consequences, after Pyongyang said at the weekend it was entering a state of war with its rival.

"If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," Mr Park told the minister of defence and its senior officials at a meeting today.

The comments came after North Korea leader Kim Jong Un said nuclear weapons development was one of North Korea's top priorities.

Nuclear arms can "never be abandoned" nor "traded with billions of dollars," Mr Kim said yesterday at a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

North Korea's rubber stamp parliament meets today to ratify his remarks. Tensions have escalated since North Korea detonated a nuclear device in February, denounced tightened United Nations sanctions and threatened pre-emptive nuclear strikes in response to US- South Korea military drills.

The US yesterday said it takes North Korean threats seriously while denouncing the "long history of bellicose rhetoric." The Obama administration yesterday sent F-22 Raptor fighter jets to South Korea to reinforce its commitment to defending its ally.

While North Korea said on Saturday it may close the jointly run Gaeseong industrial zone in response to recent flights over the Korean peninsula by US stealth bombers, South Korean workers crossed the border into the area today. About 200,000 North Koreans, including workers and their families, depend on the Gaeseong industrial zone for income, according to Yang Moo Jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. The North generates about $100 million profit annually from the joint project and the South makes quadruple that amount, he said.

"It seems there are no more cards left for North to pressure South now, and Gaeseong seems to be the last resort," Mr Yang said.

The political bureau of North Korea's sole political party yesterday unanimously endorsed building a light water reactor to help ease electricity shortages, and called for promoting international investment and foreign trade, KCNA said. North Korea's economy is about one-fortieth the size of South Korea's and the country relies on China for diplomatic and economic support.

Chronic food insecurity and malnutrition affect about two-thirds of the country's 24 million people, according to a UN assessment last June.

Agencies