SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s military said on Tuesday it will resume all military activities along the demarcation line between the two Koreas and the northwestern islands, after suspending an inter-Korean military agreement.
The suspension of the military deal with the North, which President Yoon Suk Yeol approved earlier on Tuesday, is in response to North Korea’s decision to send hundreds of balloons containing waste across the border.
“The South Korean military makes it clear that it will take all necessary measures to protect the lives and safety of its people in response to North Korea’s provocations,” a Defense Ministry official said in an emergency briefing.
The large-scale spraying of dirt balloons has “seriously threatened the safety of our people and caused material damage,” the official added.
Pyongyang said on Sunday it had sent 15 tons of waste paper using 3,500 balloons, while Seoul in response promised “intolerable” measures against the North, including blaring propaganda from loudspeakers aimed at the North.
Under the military pact, both countries agreed to “completely cease all hostile acts against each other” that are the source of military tensions and conflict, through measures such as ending military exercises on the border by the two sides.
It was the most substantial deal to emerge from months of historic summits between the two Koreas in 2018, but was all but scrapped when Pyongyang declared last year it was no longer bound by it.
Since then, the North has deployed troops and weapons to guard posts near the military border.
About 50 North Koreans were seen from the south on Tuesday building a several hundred meter fence leading to a guard post on a border hill, according to a Reuters witness.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Michael Perry)