SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government on Tuesday approved the suspension of a controversial military agreement with North Korea, a move that would allow it to deliver tougher responses to North Korean provocations.
The development comes as animosities between rival Koreas have risen sharply recently after North Korea launched balloons to carry trash across the border in reaction to previous South Korean civilian leaflet campaigns.
South Korea’s Cabinet Council approved a proposal that seeks to suspend the 2018 inter-Korean agreement on reducing frontline military tensions. The proposal will formally come into force when it is signed by President Yoon Suk Yeol, likely later on Tuesday, according to government officials.
During the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, South Korea’s No. 2 official, said the government assessed that the 2018 agreement weakened South Korean military readiness at a time when repeated North Korean provocations pose real threats to the South Korean public.
Han quoted North Korea’s balloon campaign,testing nuclear-capable weapons targeting South Korea and alleged jamming of GPS navigation signals in the South.
The military agreement – reached during a short era of reconciliation between the Koreas – requires the two countries to cease all hostile acts towards each other in their border areas, such as live-fire exercises, aerial exercises and psychological warfare.
The deal raised conservative criticism in South Korea that mutual reductions in conventional military force would ultimately weaken the South’s war readiness while North Korea’s nuclear capability would remain intact.
Last week, North Korea used balloons to drop manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth and paper onto South Korea, prompting South Korea to promise unspecified “unbearable” retaliatory measures. On Sunday, North Korea said it would suspend its balloon campaign.
South Korean officials have said suspending the 2018 deal would allow front-line military exercises, but have not publicly elaborated on other measures. Observers say South Korea was considering restarting loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts, a Cold War-style psychological campaign that experts say has already affected tightly controlled North Korea, as most of its 26 Millions of inhabitants do not have official access to foreign news.
The 2018 agreement is already in limbo after the two Koreas took some steps to violate it amid tensions over the North Korea deal. spy satellite launch last November.
