North Korea postpone plan to increase military pressure on South Korea

The North Korean President decides to reassign troops to the border to reduce tensions between north and south.

Kim Jong-un, the President of North Korea decided to postpone plans to increase military pressure on South Korea. This move, actually, is surprising because after weeks they have tensions on the peninsula.

North Korea decreases pressure on South Korea

Kim vetoed measures that included the redeployment of troops near the border between the two countries. Apparently in retaliation for Seoul’s inability to prevent defector groups from sending propaganda leaflets into the North. This decision was taken by him at a meeting of the ruling party’s central military commission.

The members discussed plans to “bolster” North Korea’s “war deterrent” and “took stock of the prevailing situation”. Well, there is no reason that was followed for the decision but some experts speculate that the regime had decided to row back on its threats to give the South the opportunity to offer concessions. Those could include the reopening of the Kaesong industrial complex, once an important symbol of cross-border cooperation, or the resumption of South Korean tours to the Mount Kumgang resort.

It would be difficult for Seoul to reenact the projects without violating international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The regime in Pyongyang has voiced anger at plans by defector groups in the South to send leaflets critical of the Kim regime. This along with rice and other items across the countries’ land and maritime borders, describing them as violations of a 2018 agreement to cease “all hostile acts”.

Speculations

There was speculation that North Korea would also launch its own propaganda war by bombarding South Korea with millions of leaflets. The 38 North website, which monitors North Korea, speculated that the rise in anti-South rhetoric in recent weeks had given the regime “just enough room to de-escalate”, but added that the prospects for détente remained slender.

“Even if North Korea avoids a serious escalation of tensions., it is still unlikely to pursue further diplomacy with the Moon administration anytime in the near future,” it said in a commentary, adding that Pyongyang could instead direct its criticism towards the US.