South Korea to freeze key military deal with Pyongyang amid balloon spat
Al Jazeera
Seoul will set aside agreement after North Korea sent multiple balloons filled with rubbish across border.
South Korea is set to suspend a 2018 military agreement with its northern neighbour after a North Korean campaign that saw balloons carrying trash sent over the border.
The National Security Council of South Korea said on Monday that it would present a plan to fully suspend the deal for approval to the cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday. The key military agreement was partially frozen last year.
The council said that continued compliance with the deal would present “considerable problems in our military’s readiness posture”. Suspending the agreement would allow the country to conduct training near the military border and take unspecified “immediate measures” if necessary, it added.
The deal, the most important agreement to come out of months of historic meetings between the two Koreas during a thaw in relations during the presidency of Moon Jae-in in the South, was partially suspended by Seoul last year after North Korea put its first spy satellite into orbit.
Pyongyang announced after that that it also would no longer abide by the agreement.
