Considering the recent invasion attempts by the North in South Korea, the President of South Korea Yoon Suk-yeol issued warnings of removal of the joint inter-Korean agreement of 2018.
The South Korean President made the statements on Wednesday. According to the press secretary of the President, Yoon Suk-yeol warned that South Korea wouldn’t abide by the formal agreement if North Korea launches another incursion.
What led to such a threating statement
Last week, five North Korean drones were reported by the military of South Korea across their border. They were unmanned vehicles and by the time the military were shooting down the aircrafts, most of them were already out of sight. However, the military was successful in bringing down one of the drones.
“Our military will continue to respond thoroughly and resolutely to North Korea’s provocations” a statement by the military said and they defined the action to be explicitly inciteful.
“It is regrettable we could not bring down enemy drones in a timely and efficient manner while considering public safety”, a senior official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
“As a result, our military’s lack of preparedness has caused a lot of concern to the people” it added.
The President responded to the unexpected incursion saying “The incident showed a substantial lack of our military’s preparedness and training for the past several years and clearly confirmed the need for more intense readiness and training”.
Countermeasures from South Korea
After the incident Yoon Suk-yeol also announced the planning of a special military unit specific to drones.
“We have been planning to establish a drone unit to monitor and reconnoiter major North Korean military facilities and will now expedite the plan as much as possible,” said the President.
The South Korean Defence Ministry announced the launch of multi-purpose units which would operate on tasks like surveillance and reconnaissance.
Yoon criticizing the reliability
The President blamed the 2018 agreement and also criticized its liability.
“Our people have seen clearly how dangerous the policy is that relies solely on the good will from the North Koreans and the military agreement”. The President also said.
Meanwhile, Yoon Suk-yeol is criticizing the peace agreement made by the former government on one side and on the other side the present government is facing criticisms from the opposition parties over Yoon’s military failure to shoot down the North Korean drones.
Before this incident, a North Korean drone being reported around the border was in 2017, a year before the agreement was signed.
The last such incursion by North Korea was five years ago.
The 2018 Accord
In the 2018 Pyongyang Summit which was a three-day summit, a joint declaration was signed between the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and the former President of South Korea Moon Jae-in which led to the formation of Demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea.
The pact was aimed at reducing tension between the two sides and promote a peaceful relation.
A Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was also signed between the two nations in 1991.
