By Lee Min-hyung



The two Koreas will suspend military exercises near the land, sea and air boundaries as of Thursday when the inter-Korean "buffer zones" take effect to further relax military tension along the border areas.



The step came as part of an inter-Korean military agreement, signed by leaders from Seoul and Pyongyang last month when both sides came to terms to stop military drills near the military demarcation line (MDL).



The land buffer zone stretches around 10 kilometers along the border where they agreed to stop carrying out any artillery drills and regimental-level field training. The two Koreas also agreed to set an 80-kilometer maritime buffer zone in the East and West Sea.



Seoul and Pyongyang also reached a consensus to set up what they call a "no-fly zone" about 40 kilometers west of the MDL and 80 kilometers east of the line.



The establishment of the air buffer zone has particularly raised concerns that this may weaken the South's security readiness despite the peace signal from North Korea. The no-fly zone will stop surveillance aircrafts from monitoring Pyongyang's possible provocative gestures near the air border region.



During this year's National Assembly audit, which ended on Monday, South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo was bombarded with questions over how the ministry will cope with the unpredictable and provocative nature of North Korea despite the ongoing peace momentum on the Korean Peninsula.



"The inter-Korean military agreement will become invalid if the North stages any intentional provocations against the South," Jeong said Monday in the Assembly audit in Seoul.



Starting this year, North Korea has not provoked the South, with the regime's young leader Kim Jong-un expressing his strong willingness to bring peace to the peninsula by scrapping his nuclear weapons.



Kim has held three rounds of summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in this year. The fourth summit is expected to take place in Seoul by the end of this year, as Kim pledged to visit the South Korean capital city in response to Moon's three-day Pyongyang visit last month.



Given that the two Koreas are on a rapid track for reconciliation by signing specific tension-easing agreements, all eyes are on what future tension-relaxing agreements will be reached during Kim's planned visit to Seoul.



Following the Pyongyang summit, the two Koreas are speeding up their military tension-easing. The latest in a series of such steps came last week when Seoul and Pyongyang completed disarming the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the border area by withdrawing firearms there. The United Nations Command (UNC), which retains jurisdiction over the southern side of the JSA, has also recently finished verifying the JSA disarmament.



