Review of plans to abolish the '9/19 military agreement' if North Korea proceeds with a nuclear test

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As North Korea's 7th nuclear test is being detected recently, the government is considering ways to revoke the September 19 military agreement reached between the South and the North during the Moon Jae-in administration.

The ruling party argues that the agreement should be broken if North Korea carries out a nuclear test, but the Democratic Party insisted that North Korea be urged to strictly abide by the agreement.

This is reporter Eom Min-jae.

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September 19 inter-Korean military agreement is an agreement in five areas that agreed to completely suspend all hostile acts against the other side at the 2018 inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.

When asked by reporters on the way to work, President Yun Seok-yeol answered, "It is difficult to tell in advance," but said, "If North Korea pushes on its 7th nuclear test, it will break the agreement."

[President Seok-Yeol Yoon: The three security cooperation countries (Korea, the US, and Japan) are operating various channels such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Security Office, and are preparing step-by-step countermeasures.]

Unification Minister Kwon Young-se expressed the government’s position a little more .

clearly stated.

He said, "It is not right to break the agreement first in the absence of special circumstances," but said that it was one of the options that could be considered in the 'worst case situation'.

[Kwon Young-se / Minister of Unification: This situation becomes much more serious, and in such a situation, the Korean government will have no choice but to review various options.]

'Extraordinary circumstances' and 'worst case' seem to refer to North Korea's 7th nuclear test, which is rumored to be imminent, and the ruling party leadership even has a hard-line argument that "If North Korea proceeds with a nuclear test, it should declare a breach of the 9/19 agreement." has been raised.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, who is in charge of the military agreement, also suggested a corresponding response on the 4th, saying, "North Korea does not comply, and it is not desirable for only us to comply."

The Democratic Party argued that the September 19 military agreement was the last firewall to prevent accidental clashes between the two Koreas, and that the South Korean government should urge North Korea to implement the agreement more thoroughly.