South Korea suspends military agreement with North Korea after tensions over garbage balloons

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea took steps Tuesday to suspend a controversial military agreement with North Korea and resume its military activities on the front lines, as tensions rise between the rivals over the North’s recent release of garbage balloons.

North Korea did not immediately respond, but South Korea’s resumption of firing drills and propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts is likely to prompt North Korea to take similar or stronger steps along the two rivals’ tense border.

Last week, North Korea used balloons to drop dung, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth and waste paper on South Korea, prompting Seoul to vowed “unbearable” retaliation. On Sunday, North Korea announced it would end the balloon campaign.

On Tuesday, South Korea’s Cabinet Council and President Yoon Suk Yeol approved a proposal to suspend the 2018 inter-Korean agreement to reduce military tensions on the front lines. The proposal will take effect once Seoul officially notifies the North.

Cho Chang-rae, South Korea’s deputy defense minister for policy, told reporters that South Korea will take all available measures to protect the people from North Korean provocations.

“The responsibility for this situation lies solely with North Korea. If North Korea launches further provocations, our military, combined with the solid defense posture of South Korea and the United States, will punish North Korea quickly, harshly and to the end,” Cho said.

The military agreement, signed during a short-lived era of reconciliation between the two Koreas, required the two countries to cease all hostile actions in the border areas, such as live-fire exercises, air maneuvers and psychological warfare.

During the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, South Korea’s second-highest official, said the 2018 agreement had weakened South Korea’s military readiness at a time when the North’s provocations posed a real threat to the public. Han pointed to North Korea’s balloon campaign, tests of nuclear-capable weapons against South Korea and alleged jamming of GPS navigation signals in the South.

South Korean officials said the suspension of the 2018 agreement would allow the country to conduct military exercises on the front lines, but did not publicly comment on further steps. Observers say South Korea is considering resuming propaganda broadcasts over loudspeakers, a Cold War-style psychological campaign that experts say is hurting in tightly controlled North Korea, whose 26 million people are largely denied access to foreign news.

The 2018 agreement was already in limbo after the two Koreas took some steps to violate it amid tensions over the launch of North Korea’s spy satellite last November.