President Park Geun-hye on Monday called for intensified national unity against North Korea, citing the communist state’s recent attempt to create division among the public in Korea and international cooperation against its nuclear programs.

She also warned that Britain’s recent vote to exit the European Union may trigger trade protectionism and isolationism in the global economy, posing challenges for South Korean export industries.

“(North Korea) is making efforts to cause conflicts in our society and to break apart the international cooperation system,” Park said at the Cabinet meeting.

“It is especially in times such as this that we should keep up our guard and prove our unity.”

The regular meeting, usually held on Tuesdays, was moved up by a day due to the ongoing parliamentary interpellation session running from Monday to Tuesday this week.

“By realigning their internal system, the North Korean regime has reconfirmed its determination to continue nuclear development and missile launches,” Park said.

“But it should realize that (such moves) will only invoke strengthened restrictions from the international community.”

Last week, the North bestowed upon its leader Kim Jong-un the chairmanship of the newly created State Affairs Commission, a move seen as aiming to strengthen his rule. The move came amid concerns on the growing frequency of the reclusive state’s nuclear and intermediate-range ballistic missile tests.

Park also mentioned the series of terrorist attacks in Turkey and Bangladesh and called for a higher level of caution.

“No region is completely safe from potential terrorist attacks,” she said, urging the Cabinet to revise the nation’s antiterrorism system and to reinforce preventive measures.

Pointing out the negative consequences of Brexit, Park urged the nation to hold out amid the growing level of trade protectionism and isolationism, and to continue its initiative for free trade.

“We should use this trend of protectionism and isolationism as an opportunity to emerge as a leading state in external-oriented free trade policy,” she said.

“Even when many developing states chose to shut themselves out, we moved for open economic development and free competition, and the free trade pacts signed during that period have now become our key economic assets.“

She also pushed the government to make efforts to win the legislature’s approval on a recently proposed extra budget to back restructuring programs in the second half of the year.

Last week, the government announced that it would seek for financial reinforcements of 20 trillion won ($17.4 billion) including a supplementary budget of over 10 trillion won.

“The budget plan is a measure to back restructuring and to stabilize the people’s livelihoods by creating jobs, and should thus not be subject to political feuding,” she said.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)