SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government on Tuesday approved the suspension of a controversial military deal with North Korea, a move that would allow the country to respond more forcefully to North Korean provocations.
The development came as hostilities between the rival Koreas recently increased sharply after North Korea launched waste-bearing balloons across the border in response to previous South Korean civilian leaflet campaigns.
South Korea’s Cabinet Council has adopted a proposal aimed at suspending the 2018 inter-Korean agreement on easing frontline military tensions. According to government officials, the proposal will formally take effect when it is signed by President Yoon Suk Yeol, likely later Tuesday.
At the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, South Korea’s No. 2 official, said the government believed the 2018 deal has weakened South Korea’s military preparedness at a time when repeated North Korean provocations pose a real threat for the South Korean audience.
Han cited North Korea’s balloon campaignnuclear weapons tests targeting South Korea and alleged interference with GPS navigation signals in the South.
The military agreement – reached during a short-lived era of reconciliation between the Koreas – requires the two countries to end all hostile acts against each other in their border areas, such as target practice, aerial exercises and psychological warfare.
The deal has sparked scathing conservative criticism in South Korea that mutual reductions in conventional military strength would ultimately weaken South Korea’s war readiness while leaving North Korea’s nuclear capability intact.
Over the past week, North Korea used balloons to drop manure, cigarette butts, bits of cloth and waste paper on South Korea, prompting South Korea to take unspecified “unbearable” retaliation measures. North Korea said on Sunday it would halt its balloon campaign.
South Korean officials said the suspension of the 2018 deal would allow the country to stage frontline military exercises, but did not publicly elaborate on other steps. Observers say South Korea was considering resuming frontline propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers, a Cold War-style psychological campaign that experts say has previously stung tightly controlled North Korea as most of its 26 million people not being given official access to foreign news.
The 2018 deal is already in limbo after the two Koreas took some steps in violation of the agreement amid tensions over the North Korea deal. launching spy satellites last November.
