SEOUL, The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a motion calling for the full suspension of a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact after North Korea sent hundreds of trash-filled balloons across the border.

The motion was approved during a Cabinet meeting held a day after the presidential National Security Council decided to suspend the Comprehensive Military Agreement in response to the North’s balloon campaign and jamming of GPS signals in recent days.

The motion will be sent to President Yoon Suk Yeol for signing.

The full suspension of the pact, which is often dubbed the “Sept. 19 military agreement” after the day when it was signed in 2018, would allow South Korea to resume military training near the border and restart loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts into the North.

The government already suspended part of the agreement in November in response to North Korea’s successful launch of a military spy satellite.

Under the partial suspension, no-fly zones around the border were lifted to allow South Korea to
resume reconnaissance and surveillance activities in the area.

A resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts is certain to anger Pyongyang, as they have typically aired criticism of the Kim Jong-un regime’s human rights abuses, as well as news and K-pop songs.

North Korea sent nearly 1,000 trash-carrying balloons into the South starting last Tuesday, calling it a “tit-for-tat” action against South Korean activists sending propaganda leaflets into the North.

After Seoul hinted at resuming loudspeaker broadcasts on Sunday, Pyongyang said it would temporarily halt the balloon operations.

Source: Yonhap News Agency