The Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea voted to annul all agreements to promote economic cooperation signed with South Korea. The information was released on Wednesday (7.Feb.2024) by the North Korean state agency KCNA.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been intensifying since late 2023. On December 31, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for preparation of the country's military forces for a possible war against South Korea. According to him, the conflict could “break out at any moment”.
Among the agreements annulled on Wednesday (Feb 7) is the one that allowed tourism on Mount Kumgang, in North Korea.
Tours to the site, one of the symbols of economic cooperation between the two Koreas since the 2000s, had been suspended since 2008, when a South Korean tourist got lost in a restricted zone. He was shot by North Korean guards and died. According to Reutersaround 2 million South Koreans have visited the site.
In a pre-recorded interview with state TV KBS, the South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said he was “extraordinary” the change in North Korea policy.
“What hasn't changed is that the North tried, for more than 70 years, to turn us into communists“, he said. “In doing so, he realized that his conventional weapons were insufficient, so he began to develop nuclear weapons to threaten us.”, he added.
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