The Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas is seen from South Korea's Dora Observatory in May 2017. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)
South Korea may reinstate a no-fly zone near the border with North Korea, Unification Minister Jung Dong-young said in a briefing Wednesday.
The ministry is reviewing restoration of the 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement in cooperation with the Ministry of National Defense to “prevent accidental clashes and to build military trust,” Jung told reporters in Seoul, according to a video uploaded on the ministry’s website.
Both sides discarded the agreement, South Korea in June 2024 and North Korea in November 2023.
A ban on activities that heighten military tensions between the two Koreas, such as flying drones to North Korea, will be added to the 2005 Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, Jung added.
Punishment for unauthorized drone flights in the proposed no-fly zone would be strengthened to a maximum one year in prison or a fine of 10 million won, or $7,000, increased from $3,500, he said.
Jung in the same briefing said three South Korean civilians made four drone intrusions into North Korea after President Lee Jae Myung took office June 4.
Such activities “apparently go against Lee’s peaceful coexistence policy and heighten hostility and conflict,” he said.
The Ministry of National Defense is reviewing the restoration of part of the inter-Korean agreement, a ministry spokesman told reporters in a text message Wednesday. The ministry is holding discussions with the U.S. and other relevant agencies, according to the message.
The agreement signed in 2018 prohibited hostile activities on land, sea and air near the Military Demarcation Line, the de facto border between the two Koreas. It limited some guard posts and banned live-fire military exercises.
South Korea suspended the agreement in June 2024 in response to North Korea’s missile tests and trash balloons sent to the South.
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a member of the country’s policy council, in a statement released Thursday on the Korean Central News Agency welcomed Jung’s announcements.
“I highly appreciate that Jong Tong Yong, minister of Unification of [South Korea], officially acknowledged the [South Korea]-born drone’s provocative intrusion into the airspace of our country, expressing regret once again and willingness to prevent reoccurrence,” according to Kim’s statement
She said the North will heighten vigilance near the border with South Korea.
