South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol formally suspended the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement earlier this week in response to North Korea's trash balloon and rocket salvo. This move effectively terminates the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), which had established buffer zones along the border on land, air and sea to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas.

In an exclusive interview with NK News, Choi Jong-kun, one of CMA’s chief South Korean architects, revisited the efforts he and his team made to reduce military tensions and prevent conflicts arising from misunderstandings or miscalculations. Choi led the South Korean negotiation team that reached the deal on Sept. 19, 2018.