Seoul completely suspends inter-Korean military agreement over garbage balloons

South Korean military officers check unknown objects suspected to be North Korean garbage from balloons that crossed the inter-Korean border on a street in Seoul – Copyright AFP/File Brendan SMIALOWSKI

South Korea announced on Monday that it would completely suspend a 2018 tension-reducing military agreement with nuclear power North Korea after Pyongyang sent hundreds of garbage-filled balloons across the border.

Seoul partially suspended the agreement last year after the North launched a spy satellite into orbit.

The National Security Council said it would now instruct the Cabinet to “suspend the entire effect of the ‘September 19 Military Agreement’ until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored.”

Last week, Pyongyang sent nearly 1,000 balloons filled with garbage, including cigarette butts and possibly manure, to the South, saying it was in retaliation for anti-regime propaganda letters sent by activists in the South.

South Korea called its neighbor’s latest provocation “irrational” and “inferior.” But unlike the spate of ballistic missile launches in recent times, this campaign of provocation does not violate UN sanctions against the isolated government of Kim Jong Un.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said of the garbage balloons: “This is obviously a pretty disgusting tactic – irresponsible, childish, and it has to stop.”

The North called off the balloon attack on Sunday, saying it was an effective countermeasure, but warned that more attacks were possible if needed.

The 2018 military agreement, signed at a time of more relaxed relations between the two countries, which are still formally at war, is intended to reduce tensions on the peninsula and prevent accidental escalation, particularly along the heavily fortified border.

But after Seoul partially suspended the agreement in November last year, the North announced it would no longer adhere to the deal at all.

The National Security Council in Seoul then declared that the agreement was “virtually null and void” due to North Korea’s de facto waiver and that compliance with the remaining provisions would limit the South’s ability to respond to threats.

Compliance with the agreement “creates significant challenges to the readiness of our military, particularly in light of a series of recent provocations by North Korea that pose a real danger and threat to our citizens,” it said.

This move will enable “military exercises in the areas surrounding the military demarcation line,” it said, and also enable “more appropriate and immediate responses to North Korean provocations.”

Before the decision can come into force, it must be approved at a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with diplomacy long stalled, Kim stepping up his weapons testing and development, and the South moving closer to its key security ally, Washington.

– Block the balloons? –

Seoul’s decision to abandon the 2018 tension-reducing agreement shows “that it will not tolerate garbage balloons across the border given international norms and the terms of the ceasefire,” said Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said no dangerous substances were found in the balloons, but they landed in northern provinces, including the capital Seoul and the neighboring Gyeonggi region, which together are home to almost half of South Korea’s population.

South Korean officials have also said Seoul has not ruled out responding to the balloons by resuming propaganda campaigns via loudspeakers along the border with North Korea.

South Korea has a history of broadcasting anti-Kim propaganda to the North, infuriating Pyongyang. Experts warn that a resumption of such propaganda could even lead to skirmishes along the border.