Presidential Office: "Maintenance of the September 19 Military Agreement Depends on North Korea's Attitude"

"North Korea Must Respect Agreements and Treaties"

On the 16th, one day before President Yoon Seok-yeol's 100th day in office, the Presidential Office building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul is shown. President Yoon, emphasizing the elimination of authoritarianism, moved the stage of state affairs from the former Blue House to Yongsan. With the president's office relocated to Yongsan, the Blue House has been fully opened to the public. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] On the 14th, the Presidential Office expressed the position that the maintenance of the September 19 Military Agreement depends on "North Korea's attitude."

A Presidential Office official responded to reporters who asked at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon whether they were reviewing the maintenance of the September 19 Military Agreement by saying, "So far, our government has respected the agreements and accords made between South and North Korea." He added, "Of course, North Korea must also respect the agreements and accords."

It appears that there is a skeptical view about unilaterally maintaining the agreement as North Korea, which has repeatedly launched ballistic and cruise missiles, did not respect the September 19 Military Agreement and even conducted artillery fire early this morning. This can also be interpreted as emphasizing that if the September 19 Military Agreement is broken, the responsibility lies with North Korea.

President Yoon also criticized the North Korean artillery fire during a door-stepping (brief Q&A on the way to work) on the same day, calling it a "violation of the South-North September 19 Military Agreement."

President Yoon particularly emphasized, "Physical provocations are always accompanied by political offensives and social psychological offensives aimed at the communist unification of South Korea," and added, "It is more important than anything else for the people to have a united mind with a firm anti-enemy stance and a constitutional spirit to protect freedom and democracy for national security."

A Presidential Office official also added, "In a situation where the threat level is raised through various provocations, strengthening extended deterrence that can respond to any provocation is important, but above all, the President's remarks were made with the consideration that the most important thing is the people's united will to protect security."

Regarding some public opinion polls showing a majority favoring diplomatic responses, the official said, "We are the ones who most desire peaceful diplomatic responses through dialogue," and pointed out, "President Yoon has proposed peaceful and prosperous solutions through dialogue several times. It is now time for North Korea to respond to that."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.