Kim Byung-ju: "Partial Suspension of 9·19 Agreement Is a Mistake... Part of Efforts to Undermine Moon Jae-in Government"

In response to North Korea's insistence on launching a military reconnaissance satellite, the South Korean government decided to 'partially suspend' the September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the 9·19 Agreement), calling it a "serious provocation against the Republic of Korea." Kim Byung-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who participated in the signing of the 9·19 Agreement during the Moon Jae-in administration, described this decision as a "bad move (惡手)."

On the 23rd, Kim said on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' "This is not an appropriate measure but a very bad move," adding, "It seems like a bad move that could lead the Korean Peninsula into a tense situation."

In response to North Korea's military satellite launch on the 21st, the South Korean government decided to suspend the effect of Article 1, Clause 3 (no-fly zone) of the 9·19 Agreement as of 3 p.m. the previous day, restoring aerial reconnaissance and surveillance activities around the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Accordingly, the South Korean military can now deploy drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles near the MDL for monitoring North Korea.

However, Kim said, "It seems that the understanding of the 9·19 Agreement is very low," and added, "It appears that this bad move is being made as part of an effort to dismantle policies associated with the Moon Jae-in administration."

Kim pointed out that the 9·19 Agreement established a kind of 'buffer zone,' and it is wrong to abolish the buffer zone just because violations have increased. He said, "The 9·19 Agreement set buffer zones on land, sea, and air. Previously, buffer zones existed only on land, but there were none in the air and sea, which led to intentional and various collisions becoming commonplace around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea," adding, "since the 9·19 Military Agreement, there were almost no violations for about three years, and peace became normalized. However, after the breakdown of the Hanoi Summit, the North Korea-US Hanoi Summit, violations began to increase."

He continued, "It’s like having a law but abolishing it because many offenders exist. That would only allow offenders to run rampant. This is the same case here," and added, "If you look at it that way, the armistice agreement was signed after the Korean War (6.25 War) and has been repeatedly violated, but the United Nations Command and our government have continuously demanded compliance, which has served as a safety mechanism."

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