South Korea to Resume All Military Activities Along Demarcation Line 

North Korean propaganda village Kaepoong is seen from above a South Korean guard post near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, June 4, 2024. (Reuters)
North Korean propaganda village Kaepoong is seen from above a South Korean guard post near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, June 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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South Korea to Resume All Military Activities Along Demarcation Line 

North Korean propaganda village Kaepoong is seen from above a South Korean guard post near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, June 4, 2024. (Reuters)
North Korean propaganda village Kaepoong is seen from above a South Korean guard post near the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, June 4, 2024. (Reuters)

South Korea's military on Tuesday said it would resume all military activities along the demarcation line separating the two Koreas and the North West Islands after suspending an inter-Korean military agreement.

The suspension of the military agreement with the North, which President Yoon Suk Yeol approved earlier on Tuesday, is in response to North Korea's decision to send hundreds of balloons carrying trash over the border.

"The South Korean military makes it clear that it will take all necessary measures to protect the lives and safety of its people in response to North Korea's provocations," a defense ministry official said in an emergency briefing.

The large-scale spraying of filth balloons has "seriously threatened the safety of our people and caused property damage", the official added.

Pyongyang on Sunday said it had sent up 15 tons of wastepaper using 3,500 balloons, while Seoul vowed "unendurable" measures against the North in response, which could include blaring propaganda from loudspeakers directed at the North.

Under the military pact, both countries agreed to "completely cease all hostile acts against each other" that are the source of military tension and conflict, through measures such as the two sides ending military drills near the border.

It was the most substantive deal to come out of months of historic summit meetings between the two Koreas in 2018, but had been all but scrapped when Pyongyang declared last year it was no longer bound by it.

Since then, the North has deployed troops and weapons at guard posts near the military border.

About 50 North Koreans were seen from the South on Tuesday building up a fence, stretching a few hundred meters, leading to a guard post located on a border hill, according to a Reuters witness.



IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
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IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran's parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the IAEA said on X.

According to Reuters, diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors' safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

IAEA WANTS TALKS

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"(Grossi) reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible," the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries' declarations. But the bombing of Iran's facilities has now muddied the waters.

"We cannot afford that .... the inspection regime is interrupted," Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.