SEOUL, November 13. /TASS/. The Republic of Korea will "unite" the Korean Peninsula "on the basis of liberal democratic" values, if the DPRK provokes a war with Seoul, South Korea’s Defense Minister Shin Won-sik told a news press conference following talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Seoul.

"If North Korea provokes a war, their regime will disappear and there will follow unification based on a liberal-democratic order under the Republic of Korea," Shin said. He argues that Pyongyang's use of nuclear weapons would lead to the "end of the regime" in the DPRK. The South Korean and US armed forces maintain full combat readiness, he added.

On November 12, during a meeting with the US defense minister, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said the two countries' militaries should brace for "any provocation" by the DPRK, including the possibility of "a surprise attack like the one staged by the Palestinian radical Hamas movement."

The two countries held their annual bilateral security meeting on Monday. The two sides updated the DPRK's deterrence strategy for the first time since 2013 over the development of its nuclear and missile programs. Austin arrived in South Korea on November 11. The next day, trilateral talks were held with the participation of the Japanese defense minister, who spoke by video link. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul on November 8-9.