South Korea plans to reform an agency on North Korea

South Korean Defense Ministry officials said on July 11 that the ministry plans to restructure its North Korea policy agency to focus on new strategies and reduce tasks related to inter-Korean military issues.

Headquarters of the South Korean Ministry of National Defense in Seoul. (Source: Yonhap)

Yonhap news agency reported that the North Korea Policy Office of the South Korean Defense Ministry will be renamed the North Korea Strategy Office, the unit tasked with formulating Seoul's strategy toward Pyongyang.

The change in organizational structure is aimed at supporting the ability to respond to growing nuclear and missile threats in the region, a ministry official said.

The newly reorganized unit will no longer focus on maintaining military agreements with North Korea, and will significantly reduce tasks related to inter-Korean military talks. The two Koreas last held general-level military talks at the border village of Panmunjom in 2018.

Last month, Seoul suspended the inter-Korean military agreement in protest at Pyongyang's launches of garbage balloons and attempts to jam GPS signals around South Korea's northwestern border islands.

The agreement, signed in 2018, established land and maritime buffer zones as well as no-fly zones around the border to reduce tensions and prevent the risk of accidental clashes between the two sides.

The reshuffle comes amid continued tensions between the two Koreas, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un calling for a constitutional amendment to designate South Korea as the “main and unchangeable enemy.”

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/han-quoc-tinh-ke-hoach-cai-to-mot-co-quan-ve-trieu-tien-278321.html