Defense Ministry says South will not abide by 2018 inter-Korean military pact

South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced Tuesday it will “no longer be bound” by a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement after the Cabinet approved a motion the same day to suspend the accord in response to multiple “provocations” by Pyongyang.

K-9 howitzers from the South Korean Army's Capital Artillery Brigade conduct a live-fire exercise in Cheorwon County, Gangwon, on April 17. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

South Korea’s Defense Ministry announced Tuesday it will “no longer be bound” by a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement after the Cabinet approved a motion the same day to suspend the accord in response to multiple “provocations” by Pyongyang.

In its press release, the ministry said the South Korean military plans to undertake “all measures it deems necessary to safeguard people’s lives and security” after the North “threatened their safety,” adding that it will “respond immediately, strongly and determinedly according to principle if the North commits further provocations.”

The Defense Ministry also said that the South Korean military had “handled the North’s provocations patiently” despite “intentional and repeated violations” of the inter-Korean military pact by the North over the years, such as its firing of a ballistic missile south of the de facto maritime border in November 2022 and invasion of South Korean airspace using drones the following month.

Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity the same day, a military official said the South “plans to once again conduct drills inside the buffer zone” that had been established by the accord, which the National Security Council (NSC) recommended suspending the previous day.

The NSC motion was approved on Tuesday by the Cabinet during a meeting overseen by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at the Central Government Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul.

Under the terms of the 2018 agreement, both Koreas were prohibited from conducting live artillery drills or outdoor exercises involving units larger than a single regiment within a buffer zone that extended 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from either side of the military demarcation line (MDL) that divides the peninsula.

The accord also banned warships or coastal guns from firing live artillery shells along the inter-Korean boundaries in the Yellow Sea and East Sea and prohibited fixed-wing aircraft from conducting tactical drills involving air-to-surface missiles within the buffer zone.

The decision to suspend the inter-Korean pact came two days after the South Korean presidential office warned it would take “unbearable” measures against the North for jamming GPS signals along the inter-Korean border and flying almost 1,000 trash-laden balloons into the South over the past week, which Seoul has criticized as violations of the armistice that ended active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea has already reported the North’s GPS jamming activities to the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization, according to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

The North also attempted to launch a spy satellite into orbit on May 27 and fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, violating United Nations Security Council resolutions that forbid it from conducting launches or tests that involve ballistic missile technology.

Local media have also speculated that Seoul could resume anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers that were once located along the border but dismantled under the inter-Korean military agreement.

The pact, which was signed by defense ministers from both Koreas during the September 2018 summit between then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was already on tenterhooks before Tuesday.

After the North launched its first spy satellite into orbit in November last year, the South Korean government announced it would suspend provisions of the accord that barred reconnaissance and surveillance activities along the inter-Korean border.

But the North’s defense ministry declared soon after via state media that it would immediately resume all activities that had been banned by the pact and deploy “more powerful armed forces” and “new-type military hardware” along the MDL.

Pyongyang’s defense ministry also vowed it would “never be bound” by the agreement in the future and warned Seoul that it would “pay dearly” for abrogating parts of the agreement.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]