North Korea’s garbage balloon attacks force South Korea to freeze military agreement | Politics news

Seoul wants to cancel agreement because mutual balloon flights are increasing tensions.

South Korea is on the verge of suspending a 2018 military agreement with its northern neighbor after North Korea sent garbage-laden balloons across the border as part of a campaign.

South Korea’s National Security Council said on Monday that it would submit a plan to completely suspend the agreement to the Cabinet for approval at a meeting on Tuesday. The key military pact was partially frozen last year.

The council claimed that continued compliance with the agreement would pose “significant problems for the operational readiness of our military.” Suspending the agreement would allow the country to conduct exercises near the military border and take unspecified “emergency measures” if necessary, it added.

The deal, the most important agreement in months of historic meetings between the two Koreas as relations eased during South Korea’s presidency of Moon Jae-in, was partially put on hold by Seoul last year after North Korea launched a spy satellite into orbit.

After the South suspended the agreement, Pyongyang announced that it would no longer adhere to it.

Trash Talk

The complete suspension of the agreement came at a time when relations continue to deteriorate due to a series of mutual “balloon attacks” across the heavily fortified border.

Since last week, North Korea has been sending hundreds of balloons filled with garbage and animal feces – branded as “gifts of sincerity” – to its southern neighbor.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who has emerged as a key spokeswoman for Pyongyang, mocked South Korea for complaining about the balloons this week, saying North Koreans were simply exercising their freedom of expression.

However, Pyongyang said on Sunday that it would no longer send balloons filled with garbage because they had proven to be an effective countermeasure against South Korean propaganda.

The North said the campaign was a response to balloons loaded with anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets by Southern activists, sometimes also containing cash, food or USB sticks with South Korean dramas or popular music.

After a meeting of the National Security Council on Sunday, a presidential representative said Seoul did not rule out responding to the garbage balloons by resuming previous propaganda campaigns against Kim Jong Un via loudspeakers along the border.