In retaliation for Pyongyang's launch of a spy satellite, South Korea is suspending provisions of an agreement reached with North Korea to limit bilateral tensions. Seoul will resume its reconnaissance and surveillance activities around the demilitarized zone (the DMZ, which separates the two Koreas), which had been halted following the 2018 agreement. On Thursday the North said it was ripping up the agreement entirely.
Seoul's decision, announced on Wednesday, November 22, follows the announcement by the official North Korean news agency KCNA of the launch into orbit the previous day of a satellite named Malligyong-1, from the Tongchang-ri launch pad on the peninsula's west coast.
Washington, which has not confirmed the arrival in orbit, condemned the latest launch, which "raises tensions, and risks destabilizing the security situation in the region and beyond," according to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. In Japan, the population of Okinawa, in the south of the archipelago, received a warning to take refuge in safe buildings, as the rocket's trajectory passed over the territory.
"North Korea's launch of a military satellite is a provocative act that blatantly violates UN Security Council resolutions," reacted the South Korean General Staff, which was also concerned about the capabilities offered to Pyongyang by a spy satellite and acknowledged, "after analysis," that the satellite "is considered to be in orbit," although it has yet to be determined whether it is functioning.
In response to this launch, the conservative government in power in Seoul will no longer respect clause 3 of article 1 of the comprehensive military agreement signed at the height of détente between the two neighbors at the September 2018 summit in Pyongyang between Democratic president, Moon Jae-in (2017-2022), and leader Kim Jong-un. The document established buffer zones along the DMZ and the NLL (the maritime line of separation between the two Koreas, in the Yellow Sea), provided for the cessation of military exercises in the DMZ and the establishment of a joint commission to facilitate regular communication between the two armies and prevent the risk of clashes.
Yet tensions have only increased since 2022. The North is stepping up its missile launches, including Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missiles. The South has resumed large-scale military exercises with the USA. Dialogue is at an impasse
The question of suspending the 2018 agreement had been raised since the incursion into the South's airspace of five drones launched by the North on December 26, 2022. One of them even penetrated the no-fly zone around the president's office in Seoul. In January, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol threatened to suspend the agreement if North Korea continued its provocations. According to Seoul, North Korea violated some of its clauses 17 times between its signing in 2018 and the end of 2022, as listed in the Defense White Paper.
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