SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said on Wednesday he would consider suspending a 2018 inter-Korean military pact if the North violates its airspace again, his office said, amid tension over a recent intrusion by North Korean drones.
Yoon made the comment after being briefed on countermeasures to North Korean drones that crossed into the South last week, calling for building an “overwhelming response capability that goes beyond proportional levels,” according to his press secretary, Kim Eun-hye.
“During the meeting, he instructed the national security office to consider suspending the validity of the military agreement if North Korea stages another provocation invading our territory,” Kim told a briefing.
Inter-Korean relations have drastically deteriorated since Yoon took office and openly invited the United States to take part in joint military drills, including joint nuclear exercises, with South Korea.
Officials from South Korea and the United States said on Tuesday that the sides were discussing launching a tabletop exercise and engaging in joint planning to counter North Korea’s allegedly increasing nuclear threats.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart “tasked their teams to plan for an effective, a coordinated response to a range of scenarios, including nuclear use by North Korea, and so that is what the teams are working on,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing.
However, she said, “We’re not discussing joint nuclear exercises,” adding that South Korea was a state without nuclear weapons.
Abandoning the pact could mean the return of the guard posts, live-fire drills in the former no-fly zone and propaganda broadcasts across the border - all of which drew angry responses from Pyongyang before the pact.
Yoon has criticized of the drone incident, in part blaming the previous administration’s reliance on the 2018 pact.