South Korea is to suspend a 2018 joint military agreement with North Korea amid rising tensions in the region, the National Security Council (NSC) decided on Monday.
The NSC had decided to suspend the agreement “until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored,” the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol announced. A proposal on the suspension is to be put to the Cabinet on Tuesday.
Suspension of the agreement, which was terminated by North Korea in November, will allow military exercises near the demarcation line separating the two countries to resume, according to the information provided. The exercises had been cut back under the agreement.
In September 2018, the two sides agreed a series of measures as part of a temporary rapprochement aimed at avoiding incidents along the heavily defended border.
The launch of a North Korean spy satellite led Seoul to partially suspend the agreement in November. Pyongyang responded by stating it would withdraw entirely.
Monday’s decision by the NSC follows a warning from South Korea after North Korean balloons carrying refuse were sent over the border. The South Korean military also accused North Korea of jamming the GPS satellite navigation system in the border region for five days in a row.
Pyongyang described its balloons as a response to propaganda flyers sent over the border by South Korean organizations. It said on Sunday that it planned to halt the balloon campaign temporarily.
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