Seoul completely suspends inter-Korean military agreement because of balloons

SEOUL: Seoul will completely suspend a 2018 tension-reducing military agreement with nuclear power North Korea, the country’s National Security Council said on Monday, 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, but the NSC said it would 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 a thousand balloons filled with garbage, including cigarette butts and possibly manure, to the South, saying it was in retaliation for letters containing anti-regime propaganda written by activists in the South.

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

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.