DPRK urges S Korea to scrap military intelligence pact with Japan

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday urged South Korea to scrap a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan.

North Korea called the deal a hurdle lying in the way of implementing the Panmunjom Declaration.

According to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), "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," Xinhua quoted.

The South Korea-Japan agreement was signed by former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe under the pretext of the "threat from the north," KCNA said.

Pyongyang has also asked Seoul to repatriate 12 DPRK women, who were kidnapped two years ago, by South Korean intelligence, and demanded a halt to joint military exercises with the United States in order to implement their joint declaration issued in Panmunjom.

On April 27, the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity, and Unification of the Korean Peninsula was adopted between the Democratic People's of Republic Korea's Kim Jong-un and the Republic of Korea's Moon Jae-in, during the 2018 inter-Korean Summit.

North Korea applauded the need for achieving a "complete denuclearisation" during the joint declaration of the recently-concluded inter-Korean summit held in Panmunjom on the southern side of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).

Kim and Moon held the historic summit, which was the first time it was held in South Korea, and the first after 11 years.

The two Koreas agreed to sign a peace treaty formally later this year, ending the six-decades-old war between the two countries. It also agreed to achieve "complete denuclearisation" on the Korean Peninsula.

The Korean War between the two countries took place between 1950-53, which ended with a ceasefire and signing of an armistice agreement.

However, in absence of a peace treaty, the two countries are technically still at war.