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| ▲ Defense Minister Shin Won-sik speaks during a parliamentary audit session held at the National Assembly on Oct. 27, 2023. (Yonhap) |
defense chief-military agreement
Defense chief says N. Korea keeps violating 2018 military agreement near maritime buffer zone
By Kim Eun-jung
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Friday that North Korea has violated the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement near the western maritime buffer zone on a few thousand occasions, reiterating his call to suspend the accord in order to bolster military readiness.
Shin made the assessment during a parliamentary audit session that North Korea's violations of the military tension reduction agreement near the northwestern islands were "much more serious than was previously known."
The Comprehensive Military Agreement, signed under former liberal President Moon Jae-in amid a reconciliatory mood, calls for setting up maritime buffer zones that ban artillery firing and naval drills to prevent clashes in the tensely guarded region.
Shin said North Korea has fired artillery shells in the western maritime buffer zone about 110 times and has left the gun barrels and portholes open 3,400 times since its signing, estimating the number of violations over the past five years to be "close to 3,600."
"(North Korea) doesn't seem to recognize leaving the porthole (of artillery pieces) open as a violation (of the agreement)," Shin said, noting it was part of the accord.
The minister said the state audit agency has been reviewing the inter-Korean agreement to decide whether to conduct an inspection, without elaborating.
Seoul's Defense White Paper enumerates 17 cases of major violations of the inter-Korean agreement until the end of 2022, with 15 of them taking place last year. It noted there are a number of violations, including opening the gun ports of coastal artillery and leaving the portholes open, among others.
In late 2022, North Korea fired artillery shots into maritime buffer zones near the inter-Korean border and ballistic missiles into the East Sea and sent five drones across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, raising questions over the effectiveness of the military agreement.
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