Military agreement with Pyongyang to be partially suspended, Seoul says

SEOUL — The Republic of Korea decided on Wednesday to partially suspend the military agreement with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that was reached after the 2018 inter-Korean summit.

The partially suspended inter-Korean military pact was approved during an extraordinary cabinet meeting presided over by ROK Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in Seoul.

With the suspension effective, the ROK will restore reconnaissance and surveillance operations against the DPRK around the Military Demarcation Line dividing the two Koreas, said Han, adding that such a measure is vital for national security.

In April 2018, then-ROK president Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong-un met in Panmunjom village and signed the Panmunjom Declaration, followed by a joint declaration inked in Pyongyang in September 2018.

The military agreement, an annex to the joint declaration, was signed on Sept 19, 2018, to stop all hostile military acts and establish buffer zones across the inter-Korean border on the ground, sea and air.

DPRK launch

It came as the official Korean Central News Agency reported on Wednesday that the DPRK successfully launched a space rocket and sent its reconnaissance satellite into orbit late on Tuesday.

The National Aerospace Technology Administration conducted the Tuesday launch. The new-type carrier rocket "Chollima-1", carrying the reconnaissance satellite "Malligyong-1", was launched at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province, at around 22:42 local time, the report said.

The carrier rocket flew normally along the preset flight track and accurately put the reconnaissance satellite in its orbit.

Kim, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, oversaw the launch and extended his warm congratulations on the successful launch.

The country's aerospace agency plans to launch several more satellites "in a short span of time", the report said.

Xinhua