South Korea completely suspends inter-Korean military pact after North Korean balloon attack

SEOUL – South Korea’s presidential office decided on Monday to propose a complete suspension of the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting after North Korea released about 1,000 balloons filled with garbage toward South Korea.

The National Security Bureau made the decision after Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo called a meeting at 11 a.m. on Monday to discuss follow-up to decisions made at the National Security Council’s emergency meeting the previous day.

“The participants of the meeting concluded that the September 19 military agreement, which was de facto nullified by North Korea’s de facto declaration of denunciation, has caused many problems with the operational readiness of our military in light of recent North Korean provocations and has resulted in tangible harm and threats to our citizens,” the President’s National Security Office said in a statement.

“Accordingly, the participants of the meeting decided to propose to put on the agenda of the Cabinet meeting on June 4 (Tuesday) the effectiveness of the entire military agreement of September 19 until the restoration of mutual trust between South and North Korea,” it said.

The office said the suspension of the agreement would allow military exercises along the military demarcation line and lift restrictions imposed by the agreement. The suspension would also allow the military to take “more comprehensive and immediate countermeasures against North Korean provocations.”

National security adviser Chang Ho-jin said on Sunday that after the emergency meeting, the country would take “unbearable measures” against North Korea’s garbage-filled balloons and GPS jamming near the inter-Korean border.

A senior presidential official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Seoul would “not rule out resuming loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea along the inter-Korean border,” which would require Seoul to suspend the Sept. 19 agreement.

In November last year, North Korea unilaterally announced the de facto abrogation of the September 19 comprehensive inter-Korean military agreement. The agreement was signed during the 2018 inter-Korean summit to “completely cease all hostile actions against each other in all areas.”

Pyongyang’s announcement came in response to Seoul’s partial suspension of the agreement, which was aimed at resuming reconnaissance near the border and improving its own preparedness. South Korea made the decision shortly after North Korea launched its first military spy satellite.

South Korea has identified around 1,000 garbage-filled balloons sent from North Korea toward South Korea in less than a week (from May 28 to Sunday). It is the first time that such a large number of balloons have been sent from North Korea to the South in such a short period of time.

The number of balloons identified this time from North Korea is almost equal to the annual total of about 1,000 balloons loaded with garbage, anti-South Korean leaflets and CDs from 2016 to 2017.

The garbage-filled balloons have caused some property damage. On Sunday, garbage-filled balloons smashed the windshield of a vehicle parked outside a villa in Ansan, about 28 kilometers south of Seoul. Officials at Incheon International Airport said balloons fell onto the runway several times over the weekend, causing disruption to South Korea’s main access route.

North Korea also attempted to jam GPS signals near the West Sea border for five consecutive days through Sunday, causing disruption to ferries and fishing vessels.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry reiterated its stance on Monday, calling for no restraint toward civilian groups sending anti-North Korean leaflets across the inter-Korean border, citing the principle of “freedom of expression,” even as North Korea threatened to take appropriate action against the distribution of these leaflets.

“We are addressing the issue of distributing leaflets and other measures in light of the Constitutional Court’s ruling to safeguard freedom of expression,” Koo Byung-sam, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, said during a regular press conference when asked about the ministry’s intentions regarding calls for restraint among civic groups.

In 2020, the Moon Jae-in administration revised the “Law on the Development of Inter-Korean Relations” to prohibit the sending of propaganda leaflets to North Korea. This followed the 2018 agreement to cease all hostile actions along the MDL. However, in September 2023, South Korea’s Constitutional Court overturned the law, ruling that it “excessively restricts freedom of expression.”

North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il announced in a press statement released on Sunday evening that the country would “temporarily stop scattering waste paper across the border.” He described North Korea’s actions as “quite rigorous retaliation.”

However, Kim warned that if South Korea starts distributing anti-North Korea leaflets again, North Korea will “respond with the massive distribution of waste paper and garbage, in a hundred times the amount of leaflets and a hundred times the number of incidents.”

North Korean defector and balloon-launching activist Park Sang-hak on Monday rejected North Korea’s claim that the garbage-scattering was a retaliatory measure and clarified that he never flew garbage into North Korea.

Park said he used 20 balloons to distribute around 300,000 leaflets denouncing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s characterization of South Korea as the “immutable main enemy” on May 11 from Ganghwa Island in Incheon. He also sent out 2,000 USB sticks containing K-pop and drama files.

“We strongly warn Kim Jong-un to immediately apologize to the South Korean people for the atrocities committed,” Park said in a statement released in his capacity as chairman of the Fighters for a Free North Korea. “If you do not do so, your misdeeds will be repaid a thousandfold, ten thousandfold.”