DPRK urges ROK to scrap military intelligence cooperation deal with Japan

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The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday urged Republic of Korea (ROK) to scrap its agreement with Japan on military intelligence cooperation signed several years ago.

There are some hurdles for the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration on Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of Korean Peninsula signed by the two Koreas in April, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Such dangerous hurdles should be removed without fail as they harm the improvement of the inter-Korean relations and create a war crisis on the Korean Peninsula," it said.

The ROK's Defence Minister Han Min-koo and Japan's ambassador to South Korea Yasumasa Nagamine sign documents of general security of military information agreement (GSOMIA) at the Defense Ministry in Seoul,ROK, in this handout provided by the Defense Ministry and released by Yonhap on Nov. 23, 2016. /Reuters Photo

The ROK-Japan agreement on protecting military intelligence is "a criminal product" signed by former ROK's President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe under the pretext of the "threat from the north," said the KCNA.

"It is an extremely dangerous and treacherous war agreement as it ferments distrust and confrontation among the fellow countrymen and opens the door to the Japanese reactionaries bent on the revival of militarism for the re-invasion of the Korean peninsula," it said.

Pyongyang has also asked Seoul to repatriate 12 DPRK women "kidnapped by the ROK's intelligence" two years ago in a third country where they were working, and demanded a halt to joint military exercises with the United States, so as to implement their joint declaration issued in Panmunjom.

(Top image: The ROK's protesters hold placards during a rally against the signing of the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between the ROK and Japan, outside the Defence Ministry in Seoul on November 23, 2016. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency