ROK president urges calm response to DPRK

SEOUL -- Republic of Korea President Park Geun-hye instructed senior presidential officials Monday to take calm and moderate response to issues of foreign affairs and security such as the ouster of Jang Seong-thaek and the newly announced air defense identification zone (KADIZ).

Park said during a meeting with senior presidential secretaries that the Northeast Asian situations surrounding the Korean Peninsula were changing rapidly, referring to shifts in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s inner circle and air defense zones.

"Under these circumstances, calm and moderate response should be taken toward the foreign affairs and security issues to build trust with neighboring countries and set people at ease," Park said.

On Sunday, ROK decided to expand the KADIZ further south to encompass its two southernmost islands of Marado and Hongdo as well as the Suyan Rock of China within the overlapping exclusive economic zones of China and ROK.

ROK said that its eastern and western boundaries remained the same as before and the new zone would take effect from December 15.

The DPRK's official news agency KCNA reported early Monday that Jang was removed from all posts and expelled from the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) for his "anti-Party and counterrevolutionary crime."

Jang, 67, uncle-in-law of DPRK leader Kim Jong-un, was vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission and secretary of the WPK administration department.

President Park noted that those issues are a very important matter that can affect the country's future, saying that decision on the KADIZ expansion was made carefully to guarantee the country's national interest as a sovereign state.