South Korean government: ``Suspension of part of the September 19 military agreement is nothing more than a 'defensive' measure against the threat from the North.''

Regarding North Korea's repeated attempts to place the responsibility of abandoning the September 19 military agreement on South Korea, the South Korean government stated, ``Our military believes that North Korea has effectively abandoned the September 19 military agreement and is taking military threat measures.
We are simply taking defensive measures in response to the situation." At a regular press conference on the 4th, a spokesperson for the South Korean Ministry of Unification said, ``The Ministry of Unification confirms that North Korea
We strongly denounce the repeated false and forceful assertions made through various media outlets such as Japan's private media about suspending a portion of the September 19 military agreement, which is our minimum legitimate measure.''
he said. The spokesperson said, ``North Korea is using disrespectful language through the Korean Central News Agency to criticize the former head of our nation and is trying to aggravate our internal divisions, but this is a low standard for North Korea.
"It only represents a certain thing and cannot achieve any effect." He continued, ``North Korea must not misjudge the situation by testing the readiness of our military, and must not use false incitement or military threats.''
We ask that the two parties immediately suspend this policy and move on to a path of dialogue and cooperation."