South Korea’s new liberal president, Lee Jae-myung, said Friday he plans to revive a 2018 military agreement with North Korea designed to ease border tensions, calling on Pyongyang to respond to Seoul’s efforts to rebuild trust and restart dialogue.
Lee spoke on the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, delivering his overture amid rising tensions over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions and Pyongyang’s deepening ties with Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
The 2018 agreement, forged during a brief diplomatic thaw under former President Moon Jae-in, established buffer zones on land and sea and no-fly zones above the border to prevent clashes.
South Korea’s previous conservative government suspended the deal in 2024, citing tensions over North Korea’s launches of trash-laden balloons toward the South, and resumed frontline military activities and propaganda campaigns. The step came after North Korea had already declared it would no longer abide by the agreement.
“To prevent accidental clashes between South and North Korea and to build military trust, we will take proactive, gradual steps to restore the (2018) Sept. 19 military agreement,” Lee said in a televised speech.
