Cheong Wa Dae: North Korea's DMZ Fence Installation Violates Armistice Agreement

Cheong Wa Dae said on the 30th that North Korea's installation of fencing in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ, a buffer zone between the two Koreas where troops may not be stationed) constitutes "facilities being installed by North Korea in arbitrary violation of the armistice agreement." Meeting with reporters at Chunchugwan that day, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official conveyed the government's position on the status of the Military Demarcation Line, saying, "There is a Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, and within it lies the Military Demarcation Line (MDL, the line dividing the two Koreas), but the MDL is not a national border." On the fencing issue, the official said judgments would be made as the situation develops. The Defense Ministry proposed inter-Korean military talks on two occasions, on the 21st and 23rd of last month, to resolve discrepancies surrounding the MDL, but North Korea has yet to respond.

Regarding claims that North Korea has resumed loudspeaker broadcasts toward the South, Cheong Wa Dae said, "There is fragmentary intelligence suggesting test broadcasts may have taken place, but it is not confirmed." The National Intelligence Service, at a National Assembly audit the previous day, dismissed such media reports as "not true."

On the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON, the authority to command troops in wartime), a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said, "The United States is not negative about it." Citing the phrase "based on conditions, at an early date" in the South Korea-U.S. agreement and the government's pledge to complete the transfer within its term, the official explained that the June 2017 South Korea-U.S. summit joint statement also explicitly committed to continued alliance-level cooperation to enable the OPCON transfer at an early date.

On U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Michelle Steel's remarks likening the alliance to turbulence, the official said, "Discussions on investment, intelligence cooperation, and corporate issues have been lumped together," adding, "We intend to resolve them one by one." Regarding some lawmakers' denial of U.S. visas, the official drew a line, saying, "We do not see this as connected to that issue."

On the outlook for North Korea-U.S. talks, Cheong Wa Dae said, "It is very unclear and uncertain," adding that there are no signs indicating whether a summit will take place.