South Korea unification minister quits as tensions with North mount

South Korea’s minister in charge of relations with North Korea has resigned to take responsibility for a rapid deterioration in cross-border ties that has seen tensions rise on the peninsula in recent weeks.

The unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, is to step down after his offer to resign was accepted by the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, days after North Korea blew up a liaison office on its side of the border that was intended to foster inter-Korean cooperation.

Kim’s resignation will come as a blow for Moon, whose approval ratings have slumped over his handling of the latest crisis. A Gallup poll released on Friday showed his approval rating at 55%, the lowest in about three months.

Kim leaves the job after 14 months in which he did not hold a single meeting with North Korean officials. His successor has yet to be announced.

North Korea has raised tensions in recent weeks with threats to retaliate over what it says is Seoul’s refusal to crack down on defector groups that send propaganda leaflets via balloons across the demilitarised zone, the heavily armed border that has divided the peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean war.

But some analysts believe the regime is using defector campaigns to communicate its anger over continuing economic sanctions imposed in response to its nuclear and missile programmes, and possibly to detract attention from economic problems caused in part by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pyongyang severed hotlines to the South before demolishing the liaison office, located in the border town of Kaesong, earlier this week.

It has also threatened cut off all government and military communication channels and redeploy troops in Kaesong and the Mount Kumgang coastal resort.

South Korea has traditionally been reluctant to take action against private citizens who send leaflets critical of the North Korean regime, along with essential goods, across the border.

It has, however, asked two brothers who defected to the South to abandon plans to float hundreds of bottles stuffed with rice, medicines and face masks across the maritime border this weekend.

Police and local officials will step up security at the site, while the government could press charges against the brothers, Park Sang-hak and Park Jong-oh, if they attempt to release the packages, unification ministry spokeswoman Cho Hye-sil said on Friday.

The Parks, however, have vowed to continue their campaign and accused Seoul of caving to North Korean threats.

While North Korea has not directly criticised its neighbour for two days, state media on Friday claimed that its citizens were “exploding with anger” at the South.

It has also vowed to open frontline sites to enable it to send its own propaganda leaflets into South Korea.

An article in the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the ruling Korean Workers’ party, said the South had no right to urge the North to abide by agreements to reduce tensions while it continued to allow defector-activists to send leaflets.

“Our students are filled with fervour to march straight to the front lines of our largest leaflet propaganda campaign (against the South),” it said.