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An image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presiding over a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea Central Military Commission, published by the Rodong Sinmun on May 24. (Yonhap News)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has suspended the military actions against South Korea mentioned by the Korean People’s Army General Staff, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported in a front-page article on June 24.

In the article, the newspaper said that Kim had presided over a fifth meeting of the seventh Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Military Commission (CMC) held via teleconference on June 23.

“The WPK Central Military Commission took stock of the prevailing situation and suspended the military action plans against the south brought for the fifth meeting of the Seventh Central Military Commission by the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army,” the Rodong Sinmun said.

In a spokesperson’s announcement on June 14, the General Staff warned of four forms of military action: the deployment of regimental-level units to the Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong Industrial Complex zones, the restoration of civil police posts (guard posts) in the DMZ, military exercises in the border region, and support for the scattering of propaganda leaflets in South Korea.

“The meeting [presided over by Kim] examined agenda items of major military policy to be laid before the fifth meeting of the Seventh WPK Central Military Commission and made a study of a report and decisions, which will be submitted to the fifth meeting, and some documents carrying the state measures for further bolstering the war deterrent of the country,” the report said, adding that the meeting was attended by CMC Vice Chairman Ri Pyong-chol and other commission members.

With Kim’s decision to suspend the plans for military action against the South, the North’s repeated warnings of “an indiscriminate leaflet scattering struggle of historic proportions by the angry people” appear likely not to come to pass in the near future. The loudspeakers that have been undergoing installation in over 20 locations for the past three days also appear unlikely to be used by the North for propaganda broadcasts to the South for now. North Korea previously cut off all hotlines with the South on June 9 and demolished the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong on June 16.

Following Kim’s decision to suspend the plans for military action against the South, observers are predicting a “cooling-off” period for Pyongyang’s hardline stance toward Seoul, which had been intensifying following a June 4 statement by WPK Central Committee First Deputy Director Kim Yo-jong. Indeed, the Rodong Sinmun did not publish any articles that day denouncing the South through “reactions from different segments,” as it had done every day since June 7 in the wake of Kim’s statement.

But with the report indicating that Kim “suspended” the military action plan rather than cancelling it, it remains too early to tell if Pyongyang is fully abandoning its recent hardline stance toward Seoul.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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