North Korea suspends military agreement with Seoul after satellite launch

(Patria) - North Korea announced it is suspending a five-year agreement reached with South Korea on reducing military tensions, AFP reported.

The statement from the North Korean Ministry of Defense followed reports by state media that Kim Jong Un was reviewing images of US military bases in Guam received via satellite.

The KCNA agency reported that the satellite would begin its official reconnaissance mission on December 1.
Due to the satellite launch on Tuesday, Seoul partially suspended the 2018 agreement on Wednesday, a series of measures introduced to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Pyongyang said on Thursday that it was completely terminating the agreement.

"We will withdraw the military measures taken to prevent military tensions and conflicts in all spheres, including land, sea, and air, and deploy stronger armed forces and new military equipment in the region along the military demarcation line," the ministry stated, adding that it would "never again be bound" by the agreement, KCNA reported.

Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo condemned the launch of the Malligyong-1 satellite. It was Pyongyang's third attempt this year to place a satellite into orbit and the first since Kim met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Russian cosmodrome in September.

The Seoul military stated that the satellite had entered orbit but warned that it was too early to tell if it was operational. North Korea reiterated on Thursday that the satellite launch was part of its "right to self-defense" and dismissed South Korea's "extremely hysterical" response. They accused Seoul of undermining the agreement by escalating military provocations, stating that the agreement had "long ago been reduced to mere paper," and called Seoul's decision to partially suspend it "reckless."

Seoul "must pay dearly for its irresponsible and grave political and military provocations that have led the current situation to an uncontrollable stage," the Pyongyang Ministry of Defense continued.

A successful launch of a spy satellite into orbit would enhance North Korea's intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict, experts say.

Washington stated that the launch was a "blatant violation" of successive rounds of UN resolutions prohibiting North Korea from testing ballistic technologies used in both satellite launch vehicles and missiles.

The launch also appears set to trigger a space race on the peninsula, experts said, with Seoul planning to launch its first spy satellite via a SpaceX rocket later this month.