South Korea’s Defence Ministry today said that it will push for reinstating a no-fly zone under the suspended 2018 inter-Korean military pact in a way that does not affect a military readiness posture.
The ministry spokesperson Chung Binna said this during a regular briefing. She said the country is in consultations with the United States over Seoul’s push to partially restore the military pact; it comes a day after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young disclosed the government’s plan.
Mr Chung saidon Wednesday that the government will ‘preemptively’ seek to reinstate the inter-Korean military pact signed in September 2018 under former liberal President Moon Jae-in as part of efforts to prevent unintended military clashes along the tensely fortified border with North Korea.
The conservative government of former President Yoon suspended the pact in 2024, citing North Korea’s trash-carrying balloon campaigns and the successful launch of its military spy satellite in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Meanwhile, in a statement today, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said she highly appreciates South Korea’s pledge to prevent a recurrence of drone incursions into the North while vowing to step up the country’s vigilance along the border with the South.