South Korean President Park Geun-hye is taking a tough stance against what she calls the nuclear threats of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.  She has ordered her senior secretaries to prepare realistic countermeasures and maintain a "punitive stance".

Park says the DPRK will "never give up miniaturizing nuclear weapons".  She says this will endanger the survival of South Korea and its people. Last Wednesday, Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. Its range puts all of South Korea, and possibly parts of Japan, within striking distance.