North Korea will have to face a determined and overwhelming response from South Korea and the United States if it attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korea spokesman Yoon Suk Yeol said on Saturday.
At the nation's 74th Armed Forces Day ceremony, Yoon called North Korea's recent law declaring itself a nuclear weapons state a threat to the survival and prosperity of South Korea and called for Kim Jong Un to denuclearize.
North Korea's development of nuclear weapons will make the lives of North Koreans more difficult. The regime must make the decision to denuclearize for peace and mutual prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, Yoon said.
Yoon reaffirmed the South Korea-US alliance, vowing that both militaries would respond strongly to North Korea's provocations and threats if necessary.
Yoon said that the South Korean government will improve its reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities and strike capabilities against North Korea.
Earlier Saturday, the South Korean military detected two short-range ballistic missiles from North Korea's Sunan area in Pyongyang, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff JCS said in a statement.
Pyongyang fired missiles for the fourth time in the past week.
North Korea has fired its most ballistic missiles in a single year since Kim Jong Un took power in 2012, according to the Unification Ministry and CNN tally.