President Park Geun-hye on Thursday called on Pyongyang to renounce “reckless” provocations and nuclear ambitions, urging it to pursue “genuine change” and end its international isolation.

Speaking at a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of Pyongyang’s torpedo attack on the corvette Cheonan at the national cemetery in Daejeon, Park also called for a robust deterrence based on the country’s alliance with the U.S. to fend off the North’s possible provocations.

“The North should dismiss the thought that nuclear arms would protect it,” Park told a gathering of some 5,000 people who paid their tributes to the 46 victims of the 2010 attack that were laid to rest at the cemetery. 

“We would only be able to create a new Korean Peninsula when the North shakes off its isolation and comes forward on a path toward genuine change.”

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs hosted the event. Among the participants were Defense Minister Han Min-koo, Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, ruling Saenri Party leader Rep. Kim Moo-sung, and main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy leader Rep. Moon Jae-in.

Park has attended the memorial event each year, except for last year when she was in Europe to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands and other countries.

Touching on a recent series of corruption scandals involving former and current senior Navy officials, Park vowed to root out irregularities in the defense industry, portraying malpractices in the acquisition of military equipment as “acts of treachery.”

“I hope our military continues to maintain a strong defense and preparedness to block any possible provocations by our enemy, and fight and definitely win whatever provocations may occur unexpectedly,” she said. “(Corruption scandals) are shameful before the graves of these victims of the attack on the Cheonan.”

A series of corruption scandals have triggered public anger and concerns that seemingly deep-seated malpractices in the defense industry could weaken South Korea’s defense against the North’s continued military threats.

Former Chiefs of Naval Operations Hwang Ki-chul and Chung Ok-keun have been detained on corruption allegations including those regarding the acquisition of an advanced salvage ship, Tongyeong.

The Cheonan sank in the West Sea while on a routine patrol mission near the Northern Limit Line, a de facto inter-Korean sea border on March 26, 2010. A Seoul-led multinational probe team concluded that a midget North Korean submarine torpedoed the 1,200-ton vessel, breaking it into two parts.

Seoul has demanded that Pyongyang recognize its responsibility for the sinking and punish those responsible for the attack. But Pyongyang has denied it, calling the investigation results a complete fabrication.

The impoverished state has demanded that the South lift economic sanctions imposed on it after the torpedo attack. But Seoul has stuck to its demand that the North accept its culpability for the attack, despite growing calls for Seoul to take a flexible approach toward Pyongyang to break the deadlock in cross-border relations.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)