The Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. The two countries are in a heated deadlock on nuclear weapons. Photo Credit: Dennis Kruyt

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-Young announced an offensive stance against possible nuclear attacks by the country’s northern neighbor, reported The Korea Times today. The minister promised preemptive strikes if North Korea showed signs of launching nuclear weapons.

Both South Korea and the United States have increased their surveillance efforts in North Korea to monitor the country’s nuclear activity, according to Kim.

Only days earlier, North Korea threatened to halt dialogue with the South on nuclear disarmament, taking issue with South Korea’s new contingency plans for dealing with possible political instability, including a regime collapse, in the North.

The Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s media mouthpiece, dismissed South Korea’s move as “dangerous saber-rattling” that marked their “madcap military” as “wicked disturbers of the process for improving inter-Korean relations.”

Painful sanctions may also be the cause of North Korea’s decision to stall nuclear talks, reported the BBC Monday. The United States imposed tighter sanctions on the country following nuclear missile tests last year. The talks had aimed to broker the end of North Korea’s nuclear programme in exchange for food aid and security.

Despite the halted talks, North and South Korea are currently working jointly to build a factory complex in the North, which would employ about 40,000 North Korean and 100 South Korean workers. The North has also begun accepting food aid from its southern neighbour.