The fallout from North Korea’s satellite launch continues to worsen after the 2018 military pact with South Korea was abandoned.
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The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rejected talks with the U.S. at a United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday following weeks of deteriorating relations. In the last two weeks, Pyongyang launched a spy satellite violating resolutions set by the U.N. and withdrew from the 2018 military pact with South Korea that aimed to ease tensions in the Korean peninsula.
Kim’s sister Kim Yo Jong, who is a senior official of Pyongyang’s publicity and information department, criticized the U.S. as having “extreme double standards” for suggesting to reopen talks while increasing military activities in the region. North Korea “will continue to make efforts to develop everything belonging to its sovereign rights and continue to exercise the sovereign rights, enjoyed by all the member states of the U.N., in a dignified manner without being restricted in the future, too,” she said. At Thursday’s meeting, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the satellite launch, labeling it “reckless, unlawful.”
Kim Yo Jong claimed that Washington was “double-faced” and that it was U.S. “high-handed and arbitrary practices” that thwarted peace in the region — not the space program.
On Friday, Kim Jong Un called on the military to prepare for any “provocation” and announced a deployment of more soldiers and other weapons to its border with South Korea.
The latest fallout
Last week, North Korea claimed it successfully launched a military reconnaissance satellite despite repeated warnings that such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. Officials in South Korea cautioned Pyongyang that it would suspend the Panmunjom Declaration, the peace agreement signed in 2018. Just before the launch, the U.K. government announced a defense agreement with South Korea that would enforce sanctions on North Korea.
Just hours after the satellite launch, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol suspended part of the 2018 agreement that enforced a no-fly zone along the border. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told reporters that the move was “necessary” for the security of the country.
The next day, North Korea retaliated by abandoning the agreement with the Defense Ministry, stating that all military measures would be “restored immediately.” On Monday, South Korea’s military said it detected soldiers along the border where North Korea had previously held guard posts before the 2018 accord.
