The South Korean government reacted to the agreement by calling the Russian ambassador to protest against the new defence agreement signed with Pyongyang. Increased confrontations with threat, as well as accidental crossings of the demilitarized zone by North Korean forces.
Sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for retaliation on Friday in response to South Korean activists sending anti-regime propaganda flyers over the border on Wednesday. South Korea also said that soldiers crossed across the border, and after warning shots were fired back by its military, the North Koreans retreated but not before a brief invasion, the third time this month.
These events took place against the backdrop of the strategic cooperation between Russia and North Korea, which signed an agreement offering reciprocal defence support in case of an assault. In response, South Korea suggested that it could provide weapons to Ukraine due to the continuous incurring by Russia.
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun then called for Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev called the latter furious after expressing Seoul’s anxiety over the Putin-Kim agreement and what the latter saw as Russian-North Korean military collaboration. The details of the meeting were not immediately substantiated by Seoul‘s Foreign Ministry.
South Korean civilian activists, including Park Sang-Hak, the defector from North Korea, have this month ramped up leafleting and have been engaged in psychological operations near the DMZ. Activists from the south floated 300,000 promotional pamphlets on 20 balloons together with 5,000 portable hard drives containing South Korean entertainment products and $3,000 in US dollars from Paju.
North Korea has vehemently condemned any such material, citing how it would demoralise the soldiers and the citizens of the country, and this has the potential to cause an overthrow of Kim Jong Un’s rule.
The North Korean activists were again referred to as ‘defectors’. In contrast, the North Korean paramount leader, Kim Jong Un’s sister and a very influential official in the country’s foreign policy called the protesters ‘scum’ according to the state media. Her statement also raised concerns of possible attacks on South Korea as a way of punishing the country for its support to the Inter-Korean reunification process.
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