North Korea on June 9 will block all communication lines with South Korea, including the military. This was reported by the Central Telegraph Agency of Korea (CTAC). It is noted that the DPRK leadership took this step after sending propaganda leaflets made by South Korean non-governmental organizations to the country.

“Our party at 12 o’clock on June 9, 2020 will completely cut off and disconnect the communication line between the authorities of the North and South of Korea, which was maintained through a permanent inter-Korean communications office, including communication lines between the military of the North and South in the region of the East and West Seas, as well a hot line between the buildings of the Central Committee of the Labor Party of Korea and Cheongvade (the residence of the head of South Korea), ”the TsTAK statement said.

It is noted that this decision was made at a meeting in which the deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Labor Party of Korea (TPK) Kim Yong Chol and the first deputy head of the department of the Central Committee of the TPK Kim Yong-jung (sister of the head of the DPRK Kim Jong-un) took part.

“Having examined the phased plans for dealing with enemies for accurate settlement of accounts with traitors and scum for their crimes, they instructed in the first place to completely turn off all communication lines between the North and the South,” the TsTAK statement emphasized.

Ball Propaganda

The reason for the deterioration in bilateral relations between the DPRK and South Korea was the sending of campaign leaflets to the north by South Korean public organizations with which defectors from North Korea collaborate.

Activists send these leaflets using balloons. Thus, the organization Fighters for a Free North Korea stated that it had sent 500 thousand leaflets, 2 thousand dollar bills and another 1 thousand memory cards to the north.

  • Kim Yo Jeong
  • Reuters
  • © Jorge Silva

After another rally of this kind, Kim Yo-jeong said through the CTC that South Korea would face serious consequences if such activities were not stopped. The measures included the closure of the coordination bureau, the shutdown of the Kaesong joint industrial park, and the possible cancellation of the military agreement between the two countries, which, as Kim Yo Jeong noted, does not have any actual value.

After this appeal, the Ministry of Association of the Republic of Korea called on non-governmental organizations and activists to stop sending leaflets to the DPRK. The country's authorities have repeatedly made recommendations on the cessation of this activity, since it harms inter-Korean cooperation.

Anti-North Korean organizations and defectors traditionally ignore such calls, citing the right to freedom of speech. However, after Pehnyan’s reaction to the current incident, the ministry announced that it would stop sending leaflets in a more categorical form.

"Any actions that may pose a threat to the life and property of citizens in these regions, as well as inter-Korean cooperation, should be stopped," RIA Novosti quoted the representative of the Ministry of Association Yo San Ki.

The spokesman added that the South Korean government will pass a law prohibiting private individuals from sending campaigns to the DPRK. It is reported that activists intend to launch another balloons with leaflets on June 25.

Cases of launching balloons from the South to the North carrying campaign leaflets are not rare, said Alexander Vorontsov, head of the Department of Korea and Mongolia at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.

“The Government of the Republic of Korea has nothing to do with this. However, there are two or three particularly active organizations consisting of North Korean defectors. They are not numerous, but loud, with fairly good financial support. And so they did such things, and this each time led to an increase in tension, ”the expert explained.

Alexander Vorontsov noted that such actions directly violate the rules on sovereign airspace.

“All of these events significantly increase tension. This was precisely the goal of these organizations, ”the political scientist noted.

According to the expert, such actions are sponsored by right-wing political forces that are opposed to any form of inter-Korean cooperation.

End of discharge

Recall that the current crisis was preceded by a period of detente in relations between North and South Korea, which arose against the backdrop of negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

From 2018 to 2019, U.S. and DPRK representatives held talks at various levels, including personal meetings between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, trying to come to an agreement. After the first meeting in Singapore in 2018, the DPRK ceased nuclear testing, but then the denuclearization process was suspended because Washington did not provide security guarantees for the DPRK and did not weaken the sanctions regime.

  • North and South Korean leaders
  • Reuters
  • © Pyeongyang Press Corps

At the same time, in 2018, the Inter-Korean Communications Office was opened in the bordering North Korean region of Keson, whose tasks included establishing regular contacts between the North and the South.

In 2019, the next summit of the working groups of the DPRK and the United States was to be held in Sweden, but the meeting was disrupted. The North Korean side then left Stockholm, saying that the United States arrived at the talks without formulating any constructive proposals.

Then Pyongyang also said that it did not intend to continue dialogue with Washington until the United States took concrete steps to abandon the hostile policy towards North Korea.

Since the beginning of 2020, North Korea has resumed testing missile weapons. In May, it became known that the DPRK leadership announced a new course to strengthen the country's strategic forces and nuclear deterrence forces. This was reported by the Central Control Commission with reference to the ruling Labor Party of Korea following the results of an expanded meeting of the Party Central Military Committee.

In addition, the TPK took measures to "drastically increase the capabilities" of delivering an artillery strike by the Korean People's Army. Experts note that this message is a reminder to South Korea that the capital of the state of Seoul is in direct reach of conventional weapons of the DPRK army.

As a leading specialist of the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies of the RANEPA, Roman Fainshmidt, explained in an interview with RT, the DPRK is now not interested in a new escalation.

“The DPRK authorities are not interested in destabilizing the situation, the South Korean authorities are not interested in this either. President Moon Jae-in tried by all means to demonstrate the openness of his policy towards North Korea and his readiness to cooperate. Major players have no interest in destabilizing the situation. Given the reasons that underlie the actions of the North Korean government, one should not expect a sharp deterioration in the situation, ”the expert noted.

However, the current demarche from the side of North Korea and the inability of the country's government to prevent such actions nullify the progress achieved in de-escalating the situation on the peninsula, Alexander Vorontsov noted in an interview with RT.

“For two years, the situation was relatively calm,” the political scientist emphasized, recalling that on September 15, 2019, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to terminate all such actions.

“It turns out that South Korean NGOs act as an instrument of American foreign policy and it is they who are trying to disrupt the improvement of relations. But whether this will lead to escalation depends on the actions of the participants, primarily on the South Korean government, on whether it will be able to fulfill the obligations undertaken during the dialogue between the North and the South, ”concluded Alexander Vorontsov.