South Korea President to restore pact halting military activity on North Korea border

SEOUL – South Korea intends to restore a pact to suspend military activity along its border with North Korea, President Lee Jae Myung said on Aug 15, as his government seeks to improve ties between the countries still technically at war.

In a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, he added that he would restore the so-called September 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement, a de-escalation measure that halted some military activities at the border. The pact was signed at an inter-Korean summit in 2018, but broke down as cross-border tension spiked.

How Pyongyang will respond to Seoul’s latest overture remains unclear.

Top North Korean officials in recent weeks have dismissed other moves taken by Mr Lee, a liberal who won a snap election in June, to ease the tension.

The Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty and entrenched the peninsula’s division.

“Everyone knows that the long-drawn-out hostility benefits people in neither of the two Koreas,” Mr Lee said during his speech in Seoul.

He added that South Korea had no intention of absorbing the North for unification and respected Pyongyang’s current system.

He cited his government’s efforts to lower tension, including halting the launch of balloons floated by activists with anti-North Korea leaflets and dismantling loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the heavily-militarised border.

“In particular, to prevent accidental clashes between South and North Korea and to build military trust, we will take proactive, gradual steps to restore the September 19 Military Agreement,” Mr Lee said.

In June 2024, former president Yoon Suk Yeol declared a complete suspension of the military pact in response to North Korea’s move to send hundreds of rubbish-stuffed balloons across the border.

The pact included measures such as both sides ending military drills near the border, banning live-fire exercises in certain areas, the imposition of no-fly zones, the removal of some guard posts along the demilitarised zone, and maintaining hotlines.

Said Mr Lee: “I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue.”

Earlier in August, South Korea and the US announced a delay in parts of their annual joint military exercises that have been a source of tension with Pyongyang.

Mr Lee said he would keep seeking to peacefully denuclearise North Korea through cooperation with the international community and dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.

Mr Cheong Seong-chang, an expert on North Korea at Sejong Institute in Seoul, said he expects Pyongyang “to ignore or denounce” Mr Lee’s latest moves, noting how it had seen how Seoul previously broke the military pact.

Mr Yeom Don-jay, a former official at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, said to get North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to enter dialogue, Mr Lee needs a bolder offer such as persuading US President Donald Trump to ease sanctions.

Mr Yeom said the North would be monitoring an upcoming August summit between Mr Lee and Mr Trump.

Turning to South Korea’s ties with Japan, Mr Lee noted that the relationship should be forward-looking, based on pragmatic diplomacy focusing on Seoul’s national interest. Ties between the US allies have often been strained, rooted in historical disputes stemming from Japan’s colonial rule over the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Mr Lee will visit Japan on Aug 23 for a summit with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, as both countries grapple with the implications of US tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Mr Lee has in the past been critical of efforts by administrations in Seoul to improve ties with Tokyo, though he pledged to deepen the relationship with Japan at a meeting with Mr Ishiba on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting in Canada in June. REUTERS