South Korean President Park Geun-hye has pledged further "strong" measures against North Korea. Park made the comment in a speech to parliament on Tuesday.This comes after South Korea suspended operations at a jointly-run industrial park, in a bid to punish the North for its recent long-range rocket launch and nuclear test.Park said the suspension of the Kaesong industrial zone is only the start of a series of actions to be taken together with the international community. Meanwhile, as part of a defense plan, Seoul has agreed to enter into talks with Washington about deploying a missile defense system in South Korea, which is strongly opposed by China.So why are we seeing such a reversal in the South Korean president's attitude toward her northern neighbor? Is it time for the major international players to take a different approach to addressing the predicament on the Korean peninsula? For more on this topic, Liu Kun and Brian Kopczynski had a conversation with Tong Kim, Washington Correspondent and Columnist for The Korea Times, and Xie Tao, Professor of American Studies from Beijing Foreign Studies University.