Factbox-South Korea to restore pact curbing military activity on North Korean border
(Reuters) -South Korea, President Lee Jae Myung, on Friday, is still technically technically trying to improve relations between neighbors, plans to bring back some military activities on the North Korean border.
The 2018 military agreement was designed to accidentally reduce the risk of conflicts, but it broke down after an increase in tension.
What happened in 2018?
The comprehensive military agreement (CMA) signed between the two Koreas (CMA) was the most important agreement arising from the historical meetings between the leader Kim Jong Un and then South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
On 19 September 2018, South Korean Defense Minister and North Korean counterpart signed the CMA in Pyongyang, the capital of the North with polite applause from looking leaders.
Within the scope of the CMA, both countries agreed to “completely stop all hostile actions against each other” and apply military confidence in the air, land and sea areas.
The measures involved the imposition of non -flight regions, the abolition of some protection officers throughout the militaryized zone and the protection of aid lines, which ended the military exercises near the border and prohibited live fire exercises in certain areas.
On the ground, both sides agreed to completely stop the artillery exercises and field training within the 5 km (3 miles) of the military limitation line (MDL) between countries.
At the sea, they set up on the barrels of sea weapons and coastal artillery and set up arms ports closed to a buffer area along the sea border.
Military agreement is falling apart
While the purification negotiations between Korea and nuclear weapons have been standing for a long time, the military agreement has begun to break between exercises and power demonstrations along the border between Koreas because they blamed other violations in recent years.
North Korea’s launch of a spy satellite in 2023 increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and countries moved away from the agreement that constitutes confidence.
That year, the South Korean National Security Council took action to establish out -of -flight regions close to the border in the 2018 military agreement and to bring back the discovery and surveillance activities of Seoul to suspend the impact of Article 3, “.
The Ministry of Defense said that the South Korean army restarted air surveillance in the border areas.
On the other hand, North Korea said that the army would “never be bound” by the agreement, that he had broken the agreement and promised to restore all the military measures he was under the agreement.
In June 2024, former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a full suspension of the military agreement in response to North Korea’s movement to send hundreds of garbage balls along the border.
Later in that year, the state news agency KCNA, which increased hostilities, said that North Korea changed its constitution to determine the South as a “hostile state”. How will Pyongyang react?
Mayor Lee, who won an election in June, tried to reconsider Pyongyang after a period of cross -border tension and showed the desire to return to dialogue.
On Friday, the government’s efforts to alleviate tensions, including the government’s anti -Korean brochures, including the launch of balloons floating and removing the speaker propaganda broadcasts on the border.
It remains unclear how Pyongyang can react. In recent weeks, the senior North Korean officials rejected the moves of Lee to alleviate tensions by the new liberal government.
Some analysts are skeptical about the short -term expectations of a positive response from North Korea to such decisions.
(JU-MIN PARK AND HEEJİN WHO BY REPORT;
