South Korea On High Alert Against North’s ‘Reckless’ Provocations

South Korea is on high alert for any signs of additional provocations by the North a day after Pyongyang launched a long range rocket.

North Korea fired a long-range rocket allegedly carrying an Earth observation satellite Sunday. South Korea, Japan and US view the satellite launch as a cover for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

"Security of South Korea and its people is exposed to threats as nobody knows how North Korea will make reckless provocations," Park was quoted as saying at a meeting of the National Security Council by Yonhap news agency Sunday.

In response to the North's rocket launch, South Korea and the United States announced Sunday that they've agreed to begin talks over the "earliest possible" deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system, named the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, on South Korean soil.

The government also said it will expand its psychological warfare of anti-North Korean loudspeaker broadcasts, a tactic that irritates North Korea. Seoul has resumed its loudspeaker campaign since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6.

Later in the day, a parliamentary committee on foreign affairs plans to hold a meeting to discuss how to respond to North Korea's long-range missile launch.

South Korean Defense minister  Han Min-koo on Saturday visited an Aegis-equipped destroyer tasked with immediately detecting North Korea's long-range rocket in case of a launch, his ministry said.

The minister noted that South Korea's Aegis ships were the first to detect the secretive North's three previous long-range rocket launches, according to the ministry.

"(You) should maintain an immediate response posture and watertight surveillance posture to detect it first this time as well and share (relevant) information," Han was quoted as saying by Korea Herald news daily.

Cheong Wa Dae said that President Park Geun-hye will be briefed by her aides on signs of additional provocations by North Korea though she has no official schedule on Lunar New Year's Day. Park will also check the South Korean military's readiness to counter any provocation by the North, it said.

Lawmakers are widely expected to review a resolution condemning North Korea's rocket launch and its nuke test, it said.