South Korea announces comprehensive security measures against North’s balloon stunts

South Korea announced its decision to completely suspend its military agreement with North Korea after a wave of balloons carried garbage across the border.

The 2018 military pact between the two Koreas had originally reduced tensions in the region by limiting military presence near the border, but it lost traction last year when Pyongyang said it was no longer bound by the agreement. Now South Korea’s National Security Council is pledging to suspend the agreement entirely in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

North Korea continuously sent around 3,500 balloons dropping 15 tons of garbage across the border, an action Seoul called a provocation and a significant violation of the 2018 agreement. North Korea claimed the balloons were in retaliation for anti-regime leaflets by South Korean activists, a tactic that has long angered Pyongyang.

The NSC has proposed a complete suspension of the military agreement, which will be reviewed at a cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday. If the suspension is approved, South Korea will be able to conduct military exercises near the demilitarized zone and improve its response to North Korean provocations.

Newsweek has asked the South Korean Embassy in London for comment.

The original Panmunjom Declaration, signed in April 2018, was the result of several years of negotiations and represented a significant step towards detente between North and South. It reduced military actions near the border and outlined plans to avoid accidental escalation, but also proposed long-term steps towards denuclearization.

However, South Korea had already partially suspended the pact last year after North Korea launched a spy satellite in the region. North Korea then annulled the agreement and resumed military activities near the border. The National Security Council stated that continued compliance with the pact would affect South Korea’s military readiness.

The garbage balloons, which contained cigarette butts and probably manure, among other things, landed in South Korea’s densely populated northern provinces, including Seoul. South Korea’s General Staff called the actions “irrational” and “substandard,” claiming that while they did not violate UN sanctions, they posed a threat to public safety and border stability.

South Korean officials have indicated they may resume propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers along the border, a tactic that has drawn Pyongyang’s ire in the past. The broadcasts have included anti-Kim Jong Un messages and cultural content aimed at undermining the North Korean regime.

Propaganda of this kind was the real reason for the balloons. Pyongyang’s deputy defense minister Kim Kang Il said the balloons were intended to show South Korea how it feels when the South drops anti-North Korean leaflets on the country.