Ruling and Opposition Divided Over September 19 Agreement Cancellation... "Cancellation Is North Korea's Responsibility" vs "It Escalates the Crisis"

In response to North Korea's insistence on launching a military reconnaissance satellite, the South Korean government labeled it a "serious provocation against the Republic of Korea" and decided on the previous day to 'partially suspend the effectiveness' of the September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement (hereafter referred to as the 9·19 Agreement). North Korea retaliated by deciding on the 23rd to effectively nullify the 9·19 Agreement. The ruling party emphasized the justification for partially suspending the 9·19 Agreement, stating that "the responsibility for the nullification lies with North Korea," while the opposition party criticized the partial suspension as a "bad move (악수, ak-su)."

On the same day, Representative Tae said on SBS's 'Kim Taehyun's Political Show,' "(North Korea's decision to nullify) was expected. In terms of content, the 9·19 Agreement has almost reached a level where it no longer functions effectively, and North Korea does not place much importance on it," adding, "Even if North Korea declared nullification this morning, the global perspective is that the primary cause of this nullification is North Korea, and no one would likely dispute this."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response to North Korea's military satellite launch on the 21st, the South Korean government decided to suspend the effectiveness of Article 1, Clause 3 of the 9·19 Agreement concerning the 'no-fly zone' from 3 p.m. the previous day, thereby restoring aerial reconnaissance and surveillance activities around the Military Demarcation Line. In response, North Korea issued a statement under the name of the Ministry of Defense, declaring, "From this moment, the North Korean military will no longer be bound by the 9·19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement and will not recognize any agreements with South Korea," effectively nullifying the 9·19 Agreement.

However, this is entirely North Korea's responsibility, and there is a global consensus on this matter. Representative Tae stated, "The 9·19 Military Agreement was established in 2018 as a supplementary agreement to the Panmunjom Declaration and the Pyongyang Declaration, but over the past five years, North Korea has continuously violated and breached it. This is a fact recognized worldwide," adding, "The party responsible for this situation is North Korea, which launched reconnaissance satellites three times, leading us to take unavoidable measures, and there seems to be global consensus on this."

However, Kim Byung-joo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who participated in the 9·19 Agreement during the Moon Jae-in administration, criticized the South Korean government's partial suspension of the 9·19 Agreement's effectiveness on CBS's 'Kim Hyun-jung's News Show,' calling it "not an appropriate measure but a very bad move," and said, "It seems like a bad move that could lead the Korean Peninsula into a tense situation."

The 9·19 Agreement established a kind of 'buffer zone,' and Kim argued that removing the buffer zone because of increased violations is wrong. He explained, "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, "For about three years after the 9·19 Military Agreement, violations were almost nonexistent, and peace became normalized, but violations began to increase after the breakdown of the North Korea-U.S. Hanoi Summit."

He further explained, "It's like abolishing a law because many lawbreakers exist. That would only allow lawbreakers to run rampant. This is the same case here," and also claimed that the partial suspension of the 9·19 Agreement's effectiveness is part of an effort to undermine the Moon Jae-in administration. Kim said, "It seems like this bad move is being made as part of an effort to dismantle policies associated with the Moon Jae-in administration."

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