President Moon Jae-in on Friday honored the victims of North Korean naval and artillery attacks as he marked the fourth East Sea Defense Day.

In his first such message issued on the memorial day, Moon said on social media that he is thinking of the South Korean soldiers who died defending the country’s waters and that they will forever be remembered.

He was referring to the 46 sailors killed in a North Korean torpedo attack on South Korea's Cheonan Navy vessel in March 2010, two soldiers killed in the North's artillery attack on the South's Yeonpyeong Island later that year and six men in uniform killed in an inter-Korean naval skirmish referred to as the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong in 2002.

The president said that any type of provocation cannot be tolerated, and that South Korea will strongly punish those that attack it. He added, however, that if there is a way to win without a fight, he would choose it.

Moon did not attend a government ceremony held in Daejeon to mark the day due to a scheduling conflict. 

Seoul designated the fourth Friday of March as East Sea Defense Day in 2016.