SEOUL, June 3. /TASS/. The Republic of Korea will weigh fully suspending a 2018 inter-Korean agreement to reduce tensions with the North, the South Korean presidential office announced.
The administration of the South Korean president decided to raise the issue at a Cabinet meeting on June 4.
Earlier on Monday, South Korea’s Office of National Security led by Director Kim Tae-hyo held a working meeting. Seoul resolved that the agreement had caused numerous problems to the maintenance of combat readiness of the South Korean military in light of the North’s de-facto scrapping it altogether. According to the South Korean authorities, the latest provocations from North Korea have posed a threat to the population.
South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) signed a Comprehensive Military Agreement on September 19, 2018, to reduce tensions in the military sphere. The two Koreas also agreed to halt military drills in buffer zones near the border. Last November, Pyongyang scrapped the military pact after Seoul had partially suspended the deal in response to the launch of a reconnaissance satellite by the North.
Last week, the DPRK unsuccessfully launched a satellite, sent trash balloons twice, fired what Seoul said were 18 ballistic short-range missiles, and jammed GPS signal in the South for five days running, the last time on June 2.