South Korea’s new liberal president announced on Friday his intention to cease some military activities along the border with North Korea and reinstate a 2018 military agreement with its neighbor, in an effort to reduce tensions at the border.
During a speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, President Lee Jae Myung stated his commitment to re-implementing the September 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement, a de-escalation pact previously established between North Korean leader and South Korea’s former liberal President Moon Jae-in.
“Everyone knows that the long-drawn-out hostility benefits people in neither of the two Koreas,” Lee remarked during his address.
The agreement previously halted various military activities along the border, such as establishing land and sea buffer zones and no-fly zones over the frontier to avert conflict. It also ceased military drills near the border and involved the removal of some guard posts within the Demilitarized Zone.
This pact was signed during an inter-Korean summit in 2018 but ultimately collapsed due to subsequent cross-border tensions.
Lee urged North Korea to reciprocate Seoul’s efforts to rebuild trust and re-establish dialogue, although Pyongyang’s potential response remains uncertain.
In recent weeks, senior North Korean officials have rejected other attempts by Lee to alleviate tensions between the two nations.
The new South Korean president highlighted his administration’s initiatives to reduce tensions, such as halting the launch of anti-North Korea leaflets via balloons by activists and ceasing loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border.
“In particular, to prevent accidental clashes between South and North Korea and to build military trust, we will take proactive, gradual steps to restore the September 19 Military Agreement,” Lee stated.
“I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue,” he further stated.
Last June, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a complete suspension of the military pact after North Korea dispatched hundreds of rubbish-filled balloons across the border. North Korea itself had withdrawn from the agreement in November 2023.
Reuters and