North Korea has scrapped a five-year deal with Seoul aimed at reducing military tensions, in the latest escalation of a dispute between the two sides. It all started when Pyongyang claimed to have successfully launched a spy satellite into space on Tuesday.
This prompted the South Korean side to suspend the agreement, saying it would resume surveillance flights along the border. Pyongyang has vowed in turn to suspend the pact entirely and send stronger forces and equipment to the border.
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November 21, 10:01
"From now on, our military will never be bound by the September 19 North-South Military Agreement," it said in a statement.
North Korea promised to withdraw all measures "taken to prevent military conflict in all spheres, including land, sea and air," and to deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military equipment in the border region.
Pyongyang fired a missile believed to contain its spy satellite Malligyong-1 on Tuesday and hailed it as a "success".
South Korea's military later confirmed the satellite had entered orbit, but said it was too early to say whether it was actually working.
Seoul strongly condemned it, and on Wednesday senior officials agreed to immediately resume surveillance operations along the border, which would allow the South to monitor North Korean posts and long-range artillery.
This is a violation of the no-fly zone established under the Comprehensive Military Agreement in 2018, signed by the leaders of both countries in an attempt to de-escalate tensions between their two countries and prevent the outbreak of a conflict.
But North Korea has violated the pact several times over the past two years, firing missiles and artillery fire into the sea toward the South. Last December, it sent drones across the border into South Korea, with one flying as far as the capital Seoul.
That was part of Seoul's justification for scrapping parts of the deal that the North was no longer abiding by. (A2 Televizion)
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