North Korea suspends military deal with South, strengthens border with forces, weapons

North Korea says it has suspended a military accord with neighboring South Korea, restoring troops and weapons at the common border.

North Korea's defense ministry, in a statement carried by the country’s official KCNA news agency, said on Thursday that it had withdrawn from a 2018 package of military confidence-building measures, officially known as “The inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA).”

It also stressed that the North would therefor move more troops and military equipment to the border with its arch-foe enemy, the South, meaning it would resume all military measures that it had halted under the deal aimed at de-escalating tension along their shared border.

The decision by Pyongyang was made just a day after Seoul suspended part of the CMA over the North’s alleged launch of a spy satellite.

“From now on, our army will never be bound by the September 19 North-South Military Agreement,” the statement said, adding, “We will withdraw the military steps, taken to prevent military tension and conflict in all spheres, including ground, sea and air, and deploy more powerful armed forces and new-type military hardware in the region along the Military Demarcation Line.”

Pyongyang launched a satellite on Tuesday, its third attempt this year after two failures, as South Korean officials claim that the latest launch purportedly involved Russian technical assistance.

The United States has accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons to be used in its war against Ukraine in return for receiving technical assistance required for its ballistic and space programs.

Russia and North Korea have strongly denied arms deals but have promised deeper cooperation, including on satellites.

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Seoul says North Korea launched a rocket in yet another attempt to put a military spy satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang also warned on Thursday that Seoul would be held “wholly accountable in case an irretrievable clash breaks out” between the two Koreas.

Hours prior to the statement, the North fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast, with Seoul saying that the launch appeared to have failed.

Last month, South Korea, the US, and Japan just concluded a two-day joint maritime drills in waters near South Korea’s Jeju Island. Pyongyang views the military exercises as a rehearsal for invasion.

Pyongyang maintains that it will not tolerate persisting US-led war games in the area, underlining that it will continue responding to the joint military maneuvers by holding its own drills as well as developing and testing all sorts of weaponry, including missiles that could reach as far as the US mainland.

The North has been under harsh sanctions by the US and the United Nations Security Council for years over its deterrent nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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