| August
4 | - A landmine provocation
occurs in the DMZ.
|
| August
4 | - Officials from Hyundai Asan
Corp. visit the North to participate in the memorial
ceremony (Mt. Kumgang for former Chairman Chung
Mong-hun.
|
| August 4 |
- In a Q&A session with a reporter
from the Korean Central News Agency, a spokesperson of the
Policy Department of the National Defense Commission
criticizes the ROK government’s responses to the press
conference about Korean-Canadian Rev. Lim Hyeon-soo (July
30) (forced detainment, forced confessions, etc.) as
“sophistry” and “a scheme to instigate an anti-North Korean
confrontation.”
|
| August 5 |
- The ROK President calls on the
North to believe in the sincerity of the South and join the
path of reconciliation at the Groundbreaking Ceremony for
the Restoration of the Gyeongwon Line.
|
| August 5 | - Former
First Lady Lee Hee-ho visits the North from August 5 to
8.
|
| August 5 | - The South tries to send a message
proposing high-level contact, but the North refuses to
receive it.
|
| August 6 |
- North Korea holds a press
conference on the occasion of the ASEAN Regional Forum
(ARF), passing the buck to the U.S. for aggravating the
situation on the Korean Peninsula, mentioning the
possibility of conducting an additional nuclear test or
firing a long-range missile, and urging Washington to change
its policy toward the North.
|
| August 7 | - North Korea
announces that according to the Decree for the Supreme
People's Assembly Presidium, it will set clocks back 30
minutes beginning August 15.
|
| August 7 | - The ROK
government expresses regret that, if the North changes the
standard time, it will disrupt the restoration of a sense of
unity between South and North Korea (in a briefing by the
spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 10 |
- The ROK President expresses regret in a chief secretary
meeting that the North is attempting to adopt a different
time zone from the South while not responding to the South’s
proposal for dialogue and cooperation, and voices concern
about a growing sense of difference between South and North
Korea.
|
| August 10 | - The Unification Ministry spokesperson,
in his commentary, expresses regret over the North’s plan to
change the standard time, and accordingly, the growing sense
of difference between South and North Korea, and stresses
that the North needs to respond to the South’s proposal for
dialogue, thus discussing such matters as standards for both
Koreas as well as exchanges and cooperation.
|
| August 10 |
- The ROK government expresses regret that the North
refused to receive a letter (August 5) in the name of the
Minister of Unification proposing to hold high-level talks
and comprehensively discuss matters of mutual interest, and
urges the North to respond to the proposal (in a briefing by
the spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 10 | - The Ministry of National Defense
strongly condemns the North’s DMZ landmine provocation and
sternly urges the North to make an apology and punish those
responsible.
|
| August 10 |
- The United Nations Command
denounces the North for violating the Armistice Agreement
and proposes to hold general-level talks.
|
| August 11 | - A
spokesperson for the Committee for the Peaceful
Reunification of the Fatherland, in a statement, argues that
the ROK President’s expressing regret over the North’s
change of the standard time is a political provocation, and
criticizes the President by name.
|
| August 12 | - Regarding
the statement by a spokesperson for the Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the ROK government
expresses regret that North Korea threatened and criticized
the Chief of State representing the South Korean people, and
urges the North to stop such rhetoric (in a briefing by the
Unification Ministry spokesperson).
|
| August 12 | - Regarding
the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian (UFG), a spokesperson for the
Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland,
in a statement, threatens a “shower of merciless fire,”
saying that “The White House and the Blue House are caught
in the panoramic sight of weapons ready to strike.”
|
| August 13 | - The National Assembly unanimously adopts
a resolution to condemn the North’s DMZ landmine
provocation.
|
| August 13 |
- Regarding the UFG, the North’s
Foreign Ministry spokesperson, in a statement, states that
“The UFG military exercise is a grave military provocation
and represents a hostile policy against the DPRK,” and
threatens that “The DPRK will take every possible measure
necessary to deter the U.S.’s nuclear provocation.”
|
| August 14 | - A spokesperson of the Policy Department
of the National Defense Commission, in a statement, denies
that the North laid landmines in the DMZ, and requires
evidence for such an allegation.
|
| August 14 | - North Korea
sends a message denying the allegation that the North laid
landmines in the DMZ.
|
| August
14 | - South Korea sends a message
warning that the North will pay a harsh price for the
landmine provocation.
|
| August
14 | - The frontline, combined
units of the Korean People's Army (KPA), in a statement,
threatens that “There is a limit to our patience” regarding
the leaflet-spreading by South Korean civic groups.
|
| August 15 | - The ROK President emphasizes in her
congratulatory speech to mark Liberation Day that the South
will sternly respond to the North’s provocations while
calling on the North to join the path of dialogue and
cooperation and seize the chance to improve the livelihoods
of its people and develop the economy.
|
| August 15 | - North
Korea changes the standard time (applying “Pyongyang Time,”
which is 30 minutes behind that of South Korea).
|
| August 15 |
- The Frontline Command of the Korean People’s Army
threatens in a warning notice that broadcasting for
psychological warfare against North Korea is an act of war
and the North will carry out indiscriminate strikes on the
South unless it ceases such activities.
|
| August 15 | - A
spokesperson for the National Defense Commission, in a
statement, demands that the South stop UFG military
exercises, and threatens that if it does not, the South will
face stronger military responses.
|
| August 16 | - Regarding
her congratulatory remarks to mark the 70th anniversary of
national liberation (purges, residents’ insecurity, the
threat of provocation, etc.), a spokesperson for the
Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland,
in a statement, denounces these as “reckless remarks
insulting the dignity and the system” of the DPRK and
criticizes the President by name.
|
| August 17 | - Regarding
the statement by a spokesperson for the Committee for the
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, the ROK government
expresses strong regret that the North distorted and
criticized the South’s sincere proposal and that the North
repeated slanderous and mudslinging accusations against the
President, and urges the North to open up the path to
peaceful unification together through dialogue and
cooperation (in a statement by the spokesperson for the
Ministry of Unification).
|
| August 17 | - The South’s
GIC Management Committee and the Guidance Bureau for the
Development of the Central Special Economic Zone of North
Korea enter into the “Agreement on the Minimum Wage and Wage
Calculation in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.”
|
| August 19 |
- A spokesperson for the North’s National Alliance for
Labor Groups, in a statement, condemns the ROK President’s
remarks about North Korea in her congratulatory speech on
Liberation Day as a “heinous confrontational act,” while
criticizing the President by name.
|
| August 20 | - North Korea
requests in a letter that the South stop broadcasting for
psychological warfare against the North, and expresses its
willingness to make efforts to address the current
situation.
|
| August 20 |
- North Korea fires a projectile
towards loudspeakers in the South.
|
| August 20 | - North Korea
sends a message containing an ultimatum that unless the
South stops broadcasting for psychological warfare and
removes the means of broadcasting within 48 hours, the North
will initiate a strong military action that may escalate
into a war.
|
| August 20 |
- Kim Jong-un calls an emergency
expanded meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission and
argues that the landmine provocation and the strikes against
the loudspeakers were fabricated. He also issues an order
that the frontline large combined units of the KPA should
enter a quasi-war state to be fully battle ready to launch
surprise operations beginning from 17:00 on August 21 and
dispatches commanding officers for military operations.
|
| August 21 | - The Supreme Command of the KPA, in a
press release, denies the North’s strikes against the
loudspeakers in the South, argues that the South’s firing
back is a provocation, and threatens to administer deserved
punishment, saying that the North will follow the
ultimatum.
|
| August 21 |
- South Korea sends a message stating
that the South will strongly punish the North for its
continued provocations and the North will pay a harsh
price.
|
| August 21 | - South Korea tries to send a message
stating that the South’s broadcasting via loudspeakers is an
appropriate response to the North’s provocations and the
South will sternly deal with the North’s provocations and
threats, while also calling for the North’s sincere attitude
to address the situation, but the North refuses to receive
it by making an issue of the name signed in the letter.
|
| August 21 | - North Korea sends a message arguing that
the North is not related to the two incidents which occurred
in the MDL and stating that it will keep an eye on the South
until the time limit set in the ultimatum.
|
| August 21 | - North
Korea sends a message proposing a meeting between Kim
Yang-gon, Secretary of the Worker’s Party Central Committee,
and Kim Kwan-jin, Chief of the National Security
Office.
|
| August 21 |
- South Korea sends a message
requesting that instead of Kim Yang-gon, Secretary of the
Worker’s Party Central Committee, Hwang Pyong-so, Director
of the General Political Bureau, should attend the
meeting.
|
| August 22 |
- North Korea sends a message stating
that Kim Yang-gon, Secretary of the Worker’s Party Central
Committee, and Hwang Pyong-so, Director of the General
Political Bureau, will both attend the meeting, and
requesting that Kim Kwan-jin, Chief of the National Security
Office, and Minister of Unification Hong Yong-pyo should
participate in the meeting.
|
| August 22 | - South Korea
sends a message accepting the North’s request and proposing
a meeting at 18:00 in Panmunjeom.
|
| August 22 | - North Korea
sends a message accepting the South’s proposal.
|
| August 22 |
- South and North Korea hold high-level talks (from August
22 to 24), and with the North’s expression of regret over
the DMZ landmine provocation and its pledge to prevent such
incidents from occurring again, both sides lay the
foundation to cut off the vicious cycle of provocations by
addressing the current situation peacefully. - Contents of
the Agreement: ① The South and the North hold talks between
their authorities; ② The North expresses regret over the
landmine explosion; ③ The South halts all loudspeaker
propaganda broadcasts; ④ The North lifts the quasi-war
state; ⑤ The South and the North arrange reunions of
separated families on the occasion of Chuseok and have a Red
Cross working-level contact in early September; and ⑥ Both
sides promote exchanges in the private sector.
|
| August 25 |
- Hwang Pyong-so, Director of the General Political
Bureau, appearing on Korean Central Television, reaffirms
the will to fulfill the August 25 Agreement between the
South and the North, saying that “I think it is fortunate
that a new atmosphere conducive to improving inter-Korean
relations is created.”
|
| August 27 | - In a Q&A
session with a reporter from the Korean Central News Agency,
Kim Yang-gon, Secretary of the Worker’s Party Central
Committee, argues that both sides “should address distrust
and confrontation and enter the path of improving relations”
and that they “will go hand in hand toward the path of
improving relations and achieving unification” on the
occasion of the high-level talks between the South and the
North.
|
| August 28 | - Kim Jong-un, in an emergency expanded
meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission, assesses the
deal agreed to in the high-level talks between the South and
the North as “a significant turning point to the path of
reconciliation and trust in inter-Korean relations,” saying
that both sides should “cherish this and make efforts to
bear abundant fruit.”
|
| August
28 | - South Korea sends a message
proposing to have a Red Cross working-level contact on
September 7.
|
| August 29 |
- North Korea sends a message
agreeing to the South’s proposal to have a Red Cross
working-level contact on September 7.
|
