SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Thursday that he would consider suspending the 2018 inter-Korean military pact if North Korea again violated its airspace. drone.
Spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said Yoon called for building “overwhelming response capabilities beyond the proportional level” after being briefed last week on countermeasures against North Korean drones that infiltrated South Korea. I commented later.
“He has instructed the National Security Agency to consider suspending the validity of the military pact if North Korea makes another provocation to invade our territory,” Kim said at a press conference. said.
The 2018 agreement, signed on the sidelines of summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, calls for an end to “all hostilities,” creating no-fly zones around borders, and eliminating landmines and mines. seeks to remove the A guard post within a heavily fortified demilitarized zone. The government has not disclosed how many mines and poles have been removed, citing security concerns.
Abandoning the deal could mean the return of guard posts, live-fire drills in former no-fly zones, and cross-border propaganda broadcasts, all of which would provoke an angry response from North Korea ahead of the deal. pulled out.
Inter-Korean relations have been rocky for decades, but tensions have escalated since Yun took office in May and promised to take a tougher stance against North Korea.
Yun said during last year’s election campaign that North Korea repeatedly violated the agreement on missile launches and threatened to scrap the deal. After his inauguration, he said the fate of the deal rested on North Korea’s actions.
Yoon has criticized the military’s handling of the drone incident, citing the previous government’s reliance on the 2018 agreement.
He urged the military to be ready to retaliate, even if it meant “risk of escalation”.
Minister Yoon ordered the Defense Minister to launch a comprehensive unmanned aerial vehicle unit capable of multi-purpose missions such as surveillance, reconnaissance and electronic warfare, and to establish a system for mass production of small unmanned aerial vehicles that are difficult to detect by the end of the year.
“He also called for accelerating the development of stealth drones this year and quickly establishing a drone killer system.
Since 2018, the South Korean military has operated two squadrons of drones within its Ground Operations Command, but they were primarily designed to prepare for future wars.
The Defense Department said it plans to launch a separate unit focused on targeting surveillance and reconnaissance functions, particularly small drones.
“The next unit will carry out completely different tasks, such as carrying out operations in various fields,” Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup told parliament last week.
The Ministry of Defense last week announced plans to spend 560 billion won ($440 million) over the next five years on technology such as airborne laser weapons and signal jammers to boost its anti-drone capabilities.
($1 = 1,273.9000 KRW)
Reporting by Shin Hyun-hee; Editing by Tom Hoag and Jerry Doyle
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