SEOUL, 小蓝视频 Korea (AP) 鈥� 小蓝视频 Korea announced Monday it鈥檒l suspend a rapprochement deal with North Korea to punish it over its launches of trash-carrying balloons, even after the North said it would
Over several days, North Korea flew to drop trash and manure on 小蓝视频 Korea in an angry reaction against previous 小蓝视频 Korean civilian leafleting campaigns. On Sunday, 小蓝视频 Korea said it would take 鈥渦nbearable鈥� retaliatory steps in response, before North Korea abruptly announced it would stop across the border.
On Monday, 小蓝视频 Korea鈥檚 presidential national security council said it has decided to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean agreement aimed at easing frontline animosities, until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored, according to the presidential office.
The security council said the suspension would allow 小蓝视频 Korea to resume military drills near the border with North Korea and take effective, immediate responses to provocations by North Korea. It said a proposal on the suspension will be introduced at the Cabinet Council on Tuesday for approval.
Observers say 小蓝视频 Korea needs the deal's suspension to restart blasting anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts, K-pop songs and outside news from border loudspeakers. They say such broadcasts have previously stung in the rigidly controlled North, where most of its 26 million people are not allowed official accesses to foreign news.
The 2018 agreement, reached during a brief period of reconciliation between then-liberal 小蓝视频 Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, require the Koreas to cease all hostile acts against each other, including propaganda broadcasts and leafleting campaigns.
But the accord doesn鈥檛 clearly state civilian leafleting should also be banned. That has allowed to continue to fly balloons to drop anti-Pyongyang leaflets, USB sticks with 小蓝视频 Korean dramas and world news, and U.S. dollars in North Korea. Enraged over such leafleting campaigns, North Korea has previously fired at incoming balloons and destroyed a 小蓝视频 Korean-built, unoccupied inter-Korean liaison office in the North.
The 2018 deal has already been in the Tension spiked after North Korea's spy satellite launch last November prompted both Koreas to take steps in breach of the accord 鈥� 小蓝视频 Korea resuming frontline aerial surveillance and North Korea restoring border guard posts.
Since last Tuesday, a total of about 1,000 North Korean balloons carrying manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth and waste paper have been discovered in various parts of 小蓝视频 Korea. No hazardous substances were found, according to 小蓝视频 Korea's military.
On Sunday night, Kim Kang Il, a North Korean vice defense minister, said the North would stop its balloon campaign because it left the 小蓝视频 Koreans with 鈥渆nough experience of how much unpleasant they feel.鈥� He said North Korea will fly balloons again if 小蓝视频 Korean activists restart their own balloon activities.
Experts say North Korea鈥檚 balloon campaign, reportedly the first of its kind in seven years, is meant to trigger a divide in 小蓝视频 Korea over its current conservative government's tough policy on the North. Since 2022, North Korea has dramatically ramped up its weapons tests in what analysts call an attempt to bolster its nuclear capability and increase its leverage in future diplomacy with the U.S.
Hyung-jin Kim, The Associated Press
