South Korea's unification ministry urged North Korea to comply with previous inter-Korean agreements after Kim Yo-jong threatened Seoul that she would take the "next step," which came as a major provocation against the South, possibly pointing at future military action.
"The government is taking current situations seriously, and the South and the North should adhere to all agreements (reached)," South Korea's ministry said in a statement as reported by Yonhap News.
Ready for all Situations
The decision came after Sunday's emergency meeting of top security officials of the South convened to discuss the response to the series of threats by North Korea. "The defense ministry is taking the current situation gravely and closely watching moves by the North Korean military," the south's ministry statement mentioned while adding that the country had maintained staunch readiness posture in preparation "against all situations."
However, there was no elaboration on what that next action would be, it has been perceived as a threat, pushing for provocations against South Korea in the near future.
What North Said?
North Korea, on Sunday released to its citizens, Yo-jong's Saturday statement. Rodong Sinmun, North's newspaper carried it fully, while publishing additional articles along with the statement and vowed "repetitive and thorough retaliation" against Seoul, as reported. The country had vowed to build a "more reliable" force against military threats from the US, saying that the historic summit in Singapore between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, two years back, made no improvement in relations between the two nations.
The strategic goal of the North was to build a reliable force in coping up with the long-term military threats from the US. "This is our reply message to the US on the occasion of second anniversary of June 12," North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon said in a statement carried on Friday by the KCNA.
North's Warnings In A Single Month
Further, North Korea issued harsh criticism of the South, earlier this month. They threatened to scrap the military agreement unless Seoul stops sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the Demilitarized Zone. They deemed it a hostile act of Seoul which breached a series of peace agreements between the two Koreas.
The North warned that if Seoul, under the pretext of 'freedom of expression,' continued such acts, South Korean authorities would face the worst phase. Also, last week, the North called South Korea, an "enemy," vowing to cut off all inter-Korean communication lines. All these came in a single month.
South's Response 'Too Late'
There were Pyongyang's repeated threats to abolish an inter-Korean liaison office and completely shut down major cross-border programs. After this, South Korea pledged that they would legislate a ban on leafleting by some activists while filing a criminal complaint against two defector groups involved in such activities. But North responded calling the move, 'too late.'
