Anchor: With the general elections fast approaching in South Korea, President Yoon Suk Yeol has warned of subversive meddling and hostilities by North Korea. The president also denounced the regime leader’s nuclear ambitions at the expense of his people.
Kim Bum-soo has more.

​Report: President Yoon Suk Yeol says North Korea will try to interfere in South Korea’s upcoming general elections in April with fake news and other cyberwarfare means.

The South Korean president on Wednesday issued the warning while presiding over the annual civil-military defense meeting with some 170 officials from the government, military, police and other related agencies.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
"For the past 70 years, the North Korean regime has consistently sought to bring down South Korea's liberal democratic system, and in years with important political events, it has always carried out social disturbances, psychological warfare and provocations. This year, we expect to see many provocations aimed at interfering in our elections, including border provocations, drone infiltrations, fake news, cyberattacks and rear-area disturbances.”

Yoon's remarks came on the heels of what the North claimed were tests of hypersonic ballistic and cruise missiles and other nuclear weapons following its recent declaration that the South is its primary enemy.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean-English)]
"The North Korean regime is an irrational group, which has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons to become the only country to do so in the world. If it was a rational regime, it would have abandoned its nuclear weapons and searched for ways to improve people's livelihood. However, it is only recklessly aimed at maintaining the family succession of the totalitarian regime."

According to the New York Times last week, U.S. officials are concerned that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could take some form of lethal military action against South Korea in the coming months, although a full-blown war on the Korean Peninsula appears to be unlikely for the time being.

With the general elections fast approaching in less than three months’ time, Yoon said that Wednesday's meeting itself is a warning against the North. The president during the meeting called for airtight collaboration between civil and military agencies to prevent the Kim Jong-un regime from affecting elections in the South.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.