No Longer Hard, South Korea Led By Lee Invites North Korea To Defuse Army Clashes At The Border

South Korean Army (South Korea). (X Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea-@ROK_MND).

JAKARTA - The South Korean military (South Korea) has proposed negotiations with North Korea (North Korea) to avoid clashes in border areas of the two countries.

The filing of the negotiations was submitted by the Deputy Minister of National Defense Policy of South Korea, Kim Hong-cheol, at a press conference on Monday, November 17.

"To prevent accidental clashes and ease military tensions, our military has officially proposed that both sides hold inter-Korean military negotiations to discuss establishing a clear reference line for MDL," Kim said, Monday, November 17, quoted from AFP.

Kim said there had been a breach of the border demarcation line carried out by the North Korean army. The army, he continued, was 'while installing tactical roads, fences, and setting mines.'

Following up on the violation of military demarcation lines at the border, Kim explained that South Korean soldiers opened warning shots.

"And put out a broadcast to push North Korea back to their side," he continued.

Kim said the attack between North Korean-South Korean troops on the border recently occurred due to the "loss of many MDL markers" that were previously installed under the 1953 Armistice Agreement that halted the Korean War."

South Korea and North Korea are technically still at war as the conflict between the two ends in a ceasefire, not a peace agreement.

MDL is located within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a 4 kilometer wide buffer zone that stretches 250 kilometers (160 miles) across the Korean peninsula.

The military negotiations proposed by South Korea followed South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's offer to discuss further with North Korea without preconditions. Lee's actions were 360 degrees different from that of Yoon Suk Yeol, the former conservative South Korean president.

Yoon Suk Yeol during his dream of adopting a tough approach to North Korea that has been increasingly "introduction" to Russia since the Ukraine war. Yoon's actions pushed inter-Korean relations to their lowest point in years.

While Lee has been known since being sworn in in June 2025, has taken a number of steps to ease military tensions with nuclear-armed North Korea. One of them removed propaganda loudspeakers along the border area and banned the spread of anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

However, so far North Korea has not responded to Lee's offer regarding further discussions without preconditions.