FILE PHOTO – The North Korean flag flies next to a concertina wire at the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 9, 2017. REUTERS / Edgar Su
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a meeting of the ruling party’s Central Military Commission and decided to suspend military action plans against South Korea, the official KCNA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The meeting also discussed documents describing measures to “further strengthen the country’s war deterrence,” KCNA reported.
Political tensions between rival Koreas have increased due to plans by groups in the south to send propaganda flyers to the north, which Pyongyang claims violates an agreement between the two aimed at preventing the military confrontation.
In recent weeks, the North exploited a joint liaison office on its side of the border, declared an end to dialogue with the South, and threatened military action.
Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong warned last week of retaliatory measures against South Korea that could involve the military, without elaborating.
The Korean People’s Army General Staff (KPA) later said it had been studying a “plan of action” to re-enter areas that had been demilitarized under an inter-Korean pact and “turn the front line into a fortress.”
North Korea’s army was seen placing loudspeakers near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a military source told Reuters on Tuesday. Such systems were removed after the two Koreas signed an agreement in 2018 to cease “all hostile acts.”
Reports from Jack Kim and Josh Smith; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonya Hepinstall
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