hankyoreh

A view of a North Korean village in Ongjin County

All land-, sea-, and air-based hostile activities around the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) are to be halted as of Nov. 1 in accordance with the military agreement reached by South and North Korea on Sept. 19.

“As of 00 hours on Nov. 1, South and North Korean military authorities will suspend all mutually directed hostile activities on land and sea and in the air,” the Ministry of National Defense announced on Oct. 31.

In their Sept. 19, military agreement, the two sides stipulated that they would be ceasing all live-fire artillery drills and field training exercises at the regiment level and above within 5km of the MDL, designate and operate no-fly zones for all aircraft types, and suspend live-fire and maritime maneuver exercises within buffer zones in the East and West (Yellow) Seas.

“To this end, covers have been placed on the muzzles and barrels of warship and coastal artillery units in the East and West Sea buffer zones, and gun ports have been closed on all coastal artillery on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong Islands,” the ministry said.

“No-fly zones have been proclaimed internally and internationally through Notices to Airmen (NOTAM) for different aircraft types,” it added. In terms of new operational procedures to prevent unintended armed clashes, the ministry said Joint Chiefs of Staff and operational command field regulations had been revised and instruction provided to local units.

“In terms of the mutual full-scale suspension of hostile activities, the North Korean side officially stated at the tenth general officer-level military talks that it would be thoroughly implementing and complying with the hostility suspension measures stipulated in the military agreement as of 00 hours on Nov. 1,” the ministry continued. According to the ministry’s explanation, North Korea has been implementing the suspension measures indicated in the agreement, including the recent closing of gun ports on its West Sea coastal artillery.

“The mutual suspension of land-, sea-, and air-based hostile activities implemented by South Korean military authorities as of Nov. 1 in accordance with the Sept. 19 military agreement will represent a practical measure to relax military tensions between South and North and promote the building of trust,” the ministry said.

“This will be a meaningful step in terms of ushering forward the Korean Peninsula’s denuclearization and establishment of permanent peace,” it continued.

“The UN Command (US Forces Korea Command) has repeatedly expressed its support for all measures related to the full-scale mutual suspension of land-, sea-, and air-based hostile activities,” the ministry stressed.

By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]