N.Korea suspends military action plans against S.Korea -KCNA (updated)
23/06/2020 22:52
* Relations between North and South Korea have been strained
* N.Korea blew up liaison office last week
* Rhetoric from Pyongyang milder since then - analyst
* N.Korea removing recently reinstalled propaganda
loudspeakers -
report
(Recasts, adds report of loudspeakers, unification ministry
comment, analyst comment, market reaction and bullet points)
By Josh Smith
SEOUL, June 24 (Reuters) - North Korea has decided to
suspend military action plans against South Korea, the official
KCNA news agency reported on Wednesday, as a report suggested
North Korean troops were taking down loudspeakers recently
reinstalled at the fortified border.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a video
conference meeting of the ruling party's Central Military
Commission on Tuesday, where members "took stock of the
prevailing situation" before deciding to suspend the military
plans, the report said, without elaborating.
The committee also discussed documents outlining measures
for "further bolstering the war deterrent of the country," KCNA
reported. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2DV132
Political tensions between the rival Koreas have been rising
over Pyongyang's objections to plans by defector-led groups in
the South to send propaganda leaflets into the North.
North Korea claims the moves violate an agreement between
the two aimed at preventing military confrontation, and accused
the defectors of insulting the dignity of North Korea's supreme
leadership.
North Korea's military was seen removing about 10
loudspeakers near the demilitarised zone (DMZ) on Wednesday,
just days after they were seen reinstalling around 20 of the
devices, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing
unnamed military sources. About 40 such systems were taken down
after the two Koreas signed an accord in 2018 to cease "all
hostile acts". urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2E018I
A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry, which
handles relations with the North, said it is monitoring the
situation and had no change in its stance that inter-Korean
agreements should be kept.
ROLLERCOASTER OF TENSIONS
Kim Jong Un's decision to suspend the unspecified military
actions may represent a reprieve from weeks of increasingly
provocative moves by North Korea.
In recent weeks, the North blew up a joint liaison office on
its side of the border and declared an end to dialogue with the
South. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DT0HM
Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, warned last week of retaliatory
measures against South Korea that could involve the military,
without elaborating. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DR008
The General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) later
said it had been studying an "action plan" that included sending
troops into joint tourism and economic zones, reoccupying border
guard posts that had been abandoned under the 2018 pact, taking
steps to "turn the front line into a fortress," and supporting
plans for the North to send its own propaganda leaflets into the
South. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2DS4DE
Jenny Town, with the U.S.-based North Korea-monitoring
website 38 North, said anti-South Korea rhetoric from the North
over the past week had left room for flexibility, but it was
still unclear where the latest moves will lead.
"Overall, it doesn’t appear that the North has necessarily
wanted to be overly provocative," she said. "While it seems set
on reversing the measures taken in the inter-Korean agreements
-in a dramatic fashion - so far, the rhetoric has already been
milder since the demolition of the liaison office."
The KCNA report sent shares of South Korea's defence-related
firms, which have risen during the heightened tensions, into a
tailspin early on Wednesday. Victek Co Ltd 065450.KQ , Speco
013810.KQ and Firstec Co Ltd 010820.KS tumbled more than 20%
each, while the benchmark KOSPI .KS11 and junior KOSDAQ
.KQ11 was trading up 1.3% and 0.9%, respectively, as of 0032
GMT.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Additional reporting by Jack Kim,
Sangmi Cha, and Joori Roh; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and
Lincoln Feast.)
((jack.kim@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 1455;))