"North Korea Violated September 19 Agreement 4,050 Times... Up to Five Coastal Artillery Firings in a Single Day"

Sung Iljong:
"Restoring the September 19 Agreement
Would Mortgage Our Security"

It has been revealed that North Korea violated the September 19, 2018 Inter-Korean Military Agreement more than 4,000 times until June last year, when the agreement was suspended.

On July 7, Representative Sung Iljong of the People Power Party, who serves as Chairman of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, announced that an analysis of data received from the Ministry of National Defense on North Korea's violations of the Inter-Korean Military Agreement showed the North committed a total of 4,050 violations.

According to Representative Sung, North Korea first violated the agreement on November 23, 2019, the year after the September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement, when Kim Jong Un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission, oversaw coastal artillery fire in the maritime buffer zone near Changrindo in the West Sea. After this incident, North Korea violated the agreement 4,050 times until June 4 last year, when the agreement was suspended.

Of these, 4,030 cases involved opening the coastal artillery gun ports. In particular, it was found that on October 14, 2022, North Korea conducted maritime artillery fire five times in a single day in both the East and West Seas. On this day, North Korea also launched a short-range ballistic missile from the Sunan area near Pyongyang toward the East Sea. In addition, it was confirmed that from January 5 to 7 last year, North Korea fired approximately 350 artillery rounds into the West Sea.

Under the original Inter-Korean Military Agreement, both sides agreed to suspend artillery fire and maritime maneuver exercises in the waters from south of Deokjeokdo in the South to north of Chodo in the North in the West Sea, and from south of Sokcho in the South to north of Tongcheon in the North in the East Sea. They also agreed to cover the muzzles and barrels of coastal and naval guns and to close the gun ports. North Korea, however, violated these provisions.

Chairman Sung stated, "Since the agreement took effect, we have not had a single violation, but the numbers show that North Korea had no intention of properly implementing the agreement even during the Moon Jae-in administration," adding, "Restoring such a submissive and unequal treaty from the beginning would be tantamount to mortgaging our security."