DPRK to restore military measures after ROK move

SEOUL — The Democratic People's Republic of Korea announced on Thursday the decision to immediately restore all military measures halted under an inter-Korean military agreement, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

The DPRK's Defense Ministry made the statement a day after the Republic of Korea made a prompt decision to partially suspend the accord designed to defuse the danger of an armed conflict along the Military Demarcation Line, over the DPRK's launch of a reconnaissance satellite late on Tuesday.

The satellite launch is "a step pertaining to the right to self-defense and the legitimate and just exercise of sovereignty", said the KCNA report.

The DPRK will "withdraw the military steps, taken to prevent military tension and conflict in all spheres including ground, sea and air, and deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware in the region along the Military Demarcation Line", the report added.

The ROK on Wednesday decided to partially suspend the military agreement reached in 2018, saying it would immediately step up surveillance along the heavily fortified border with the DPRK.

China hopes all parties relevant to the Korean Peninsula issues can be coolheaded and exercise self-restraint, and China will continue to play a constructive role in facilitating the political settlement of the issues, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Wednesday.

The United States, Japan and the ROK said they will take strong measures in response as the satellite was launched with ballistic missile technology, which they said violated relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council.

Mao told a news conference that China noted the DPRK's announcement and the reaction of relevant parties. She said the situation on the Korean Peninsula has come to where it stands today for a reason.

Common interests

It is in the common interests of all regional countries to maintain peace and stability on the peninsula, and to promote the political settlement of the peninsula issues, Mao said.

The DPRK's aerospace agency said on Wednesday that the reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1 will formally start its mission on Dec 1 after a seven-to-10-day fine-tuning process.

The National Aerospace Technology Administration made the announcement during a visit by Kim Jong-un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, to the Pyongyang General Control Center of the aerospace agency, according to the KCNA.

Kim stressed the need to send into orbit more reconnaissance satellites of various kinds and operate them in a combined and practical manner, in order to "provide the DPRK armed forces with abundant valuable real-time information about the enemy and further promote their responsive posture", it added.