Unprecedented tension is witnessed by neighboring South and North Korea after the Gaza war, and after the increase in military relations between Pyongyang and Moscow in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Since the end of last October, South Korea has expressed its desire to withdraw from the military agreement signed with its neighbor North Korea, amid Seoul’s fears that Pyongyang will launch attacks similar to those launched by Hamas against Israel.
These developments come amid the scheduled visit of Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on Wednesday, to South Korea for talks on North Korea and its alliance with Russia, and after the G7 “strongly” condemned North Korean arms shipments to Russia during the Tokyo Summit.
What is that agreement and why does South Korea want to withdraw?
According to the Associated Press, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-shik said that the violence in Israel and Gaza confirms his country’s need to strengthen surveillance of the North, noting that the no-fly zones stipulated in the agreement prevent his country from fully utilizing its air surveillance assets in A time when nuclear threats to Pyongyang are increasing.
Over the past few days, Shik, who took office on October 7, has been calling for the suspension of the military agreement between the two Koreas:
It took place in 2018 during the era of former liberal President Moon Jae-in, who was seeking reconciliation between the two Koreas. Under it, land and sea buffer zones were created in which artillery firing and military training were prohibited along the borders of the two countries. It banned flights over the borders of the two countries to prevent clashes. Main weapons firing exercises banned in South Korea’s northwestern islands. Because of this, South Korea faces great difficulties in maintaining its combat readiness status, according to Shin. After its cancellation, South Korea will be able to resume monitoring the front lines linking it with North Korea, according to Yonhap. Completely canceling the agreement would require a complex legal process in South Korea, but stopping it temporarily would only require a decision from a meeting of the country’s cabinet.
What is the relationship of these tensions to the Gaza war?
South Korea’s intelligence service says that the northern neighbor is trying to exploit the Gaza war in a “multifaceted way,” as Yoo Sang-beom, secretary of the intelligence service, said that his country has received indications that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, has ordered a search for ways to provide comprehensive support. For the Palestinians.
He added: “North Korea has a history of exporting anti-tank weapons and rocket launchers to Hamas and Hezbollah, in the past, so we believe there is a possibility of selling weapons to armed groups and third world countries.”
But North Korea denied these allegations, saying they were “fake news,” and that Israel bears responsibility for the outbreak of fighting and the deaths, and that the United States is a partner in “the Israeli genocide of the residents of the Gaza Strip.”
Blinken is in Seoul, and the Ukraine and Gaza wars are on the table
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is scheduled to arrive in South Korea on Wednesday for talks on North Korea, the alliance and regional issues, amid growing concerns about the closer military relations between North Korea and Russia.
According to the South Korean agency, the visit is Blinken’s first since the formation of President Yeon Suk-yeol’s government in May 2022, and the first in nearly two and a half years after his last visit to attend a “2+2” meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries.
For its part, the Pentagon refused to comment on the heated controversy in South Korea over the idea of canceling the military agreement between the two Koreas, considering that the decision rests with Seoul.
Asian affairs expert, Jalal Al-Taweel, told Sky News Arabia:
The escalating relations between North Korea and Russia since the Ukraine war and missile tests conducted by Pyongyang worry the South. The United States is exploiting these tensions to compete with Russia and China through their allies, North Korea. Washington is adding fuel to the fire in the East Asia region and the Korean Peninsula after the military exercises it conducts all the time with its allies. North Korea announced its success in building the most powerful nuclear force in the world, and this worries Washington. There are no indications that North Korea is preparing to launch similar Hamas-style attacks against its southern neighbor. Seoul has fears that Pyongyang is in the final stage of preparation for a third attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, with Russia’s help as part of an arms deal reached at the Kim Jong Un-Vladimir Putin summit. Blinken’s visit to renew Washington’s commitment to defending its key Asian ally against allegations of security threats to the North. South Korea’s cancellation of the military agreement with its northern neighbor will ignite tensions in the region and put the Korean Peninsula and East Asia on a hot plate.
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2023-11-08 14:41:04
