Yoon Approves Suspension of Entire 9·19 Military Agreement... Rising Tensions Between North and South

President Yoon Suk-yeol is delivering the opening address at the opening ceremony of the Korea-Africa Summit held on the 4th at the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit venue. [Image source=Yonhap News]

President Yoon Suk-yeol approved the agenda to suspend the entire effectiveness of the September 19 military agreement, which passed the Cabinet meeting on the 4th, the Presidential Office announced.

Once the government notifies North Korea of the suspension of the military agreement's effectiveness, the agreement will be immediately suspended.

Accordingly, the inter-Korean military agreement, introduced to ease military clashes between the South and the North, has been effectively nullified after about 5 years and 8 months.

Earlier that day, the government held a Cabinet meeting at the Government Seoul Office, presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, where the agenda to suspend the entire effectiveness of the September 19 military agreement was proposed, deliberated, and approved.

The September 19 military agreement is an annex agreement to the "September Pyongyang Joint Declaration," adopted during the summit between former President Moon Jae-in and North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un on September 19, 2018, which prohibits hostile acts between the South and the North.

Recently, as North Korea continued various provocations such as releasing a large number of trash balloons into South Korea and jamming satellite navigation (GPS) signals, the government announced its decision to suspend the effectiveness of the September 19 military agreement.

With the suspension of the military agreement's effectiveness, the government can immediately engage in loudspeaker broadcasts toward North Korea, considered a powerful psychological warfare tool, as well as artillery training and naval firing exercises near the Military Demarcation Line.