Besides overseas Filipino workers in the North Korean and South Korea, the war veterans in the Philippines are more worried over the ongoing conflict between the two neighboring nations.
Amid persistent talk about Manila’s contingency plan in case of a full-scale war in the Korean Peninsula, Korean Embassy officials said Wednesday that there is “no reason for alarm” as tension between Pyongyang and Seoul is starting to subside.
Malacañang said on Sunday the possible return of United States military bases to the country as stated by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin was a “mere scenario in case of an extreme emergency” arising from the Korean crisis.
Findings from a report by the US military spy agency suggest North Korea could be capable of launching a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead. The Pentagon and South Korea’s defense ministry have cast strong doubts on the assessment.
The only thing the Philippines can do in case of an environmental, health and agricultural devastation in the face of North Korean threats to fire nuclear missiles at the United States and Pyongyang’s neighbors is draft a risk management strategy, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday warned of “severe damage” that the Philippines could suffer from nuclear warfare should the situation in the Korean peninsula escalate.
Because many have been asking, the Philippine military said on Saturday it felt compelled to assert that the ongoing joint exercise between Philippine and United States forces was not borne out of the tension on the Korean peninsula nor was it directed at any nation.
Seeing no imminent outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Saturday postponed a trip to Seoul as foreign diplomats in Pyongyang huddled to discuss a North Korean evacuation advisory that had sparked fears the isolated state was preparing to launch attacks on the South and the United States.
The escalating tension between North and South Korea has not affected the ongoing preparations for the 6th Asian Youth Day (AYD), which will be held in Daejeon, South Korea, next year.
The Philippines as a treaty ally should help the United States if it is attacked by North Korea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said Friday.
President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said there was no “imminent threat ” yet to start the evacuation of about 40,000 Filipinos in the tense Korean Peninsula.
If Kim Il-Sung, founder of North Korea, were alive today, he would not allow his country and South Korea to come as close to another war as they have done now, according to former House Speaker Jose de Venecia.
