South Korean President Accuses Pyongyang of Violating 2018 Inter-Korean Agreement

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday accused North Korea of violating the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement as Pyongyang carried out military and missile drills.

"North Korea has clearly violated the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement when it fired artillery shots on Friday into the buffer zones stipulated in their accord," Yoon was quoted as saying by the South Korean broadcaster KBS.

South Korean is mulling appropriate measures in response, the president said.

At 1:50 a.m. local time on Friday (16:50 GMT, Thursday), North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile, which traveled some 700 kilometers (435 miles) towards the East Sea.

According to the KBS, if North Korea conducts another provocation, Seoul will consider the possibility of terminating the military agreement.

Pyongyang has carried out eight test launches since September 25 and over 25 since the beginning of 2022. North Korea has emphasized that its test launches are being carried out in response to the refusal of the US and South Korea to stop joint military drills, which Pyongyang believes threaten regional stability.

The inter-Korean military agreement was signed at the summit between the leaders of the two countries from September 18-20, 2018. The agreement was aimed at preventing military confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and in particular, established buffer zones, based on the Military Demarcation Line on land and on the Northern Limit Line at sea.