South Korean opposition leader calls for inter-Korean talks amid tensions

By Anadolu staff

South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Saturday urged the two Koreas to sit together and communicate to ease the escalating tensions in the region, Yonhap news agency reported.

Lee on social media said peace on the Korean Peninsula is at risk as the two Koreas are engaged in tit-for-tat measures.

Referring to Pyongyang’s sending of balloons carrying trash across the border, South Korean civic group's sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets and the suspension of the inter-Korean military pact, Lee said North Korea should stop provocative actions.

"(The South Korean government) should realize that ordinary citizens and residents near the border will bear any damage should it stick to a hardline, eye-for-eye stance," Lee said.

Pyongyang recently sent over 1,000 balloons carrying trash to the South, a move which led Seoul to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact. Defector groups in the South also sent balloons carrying leaflets and other goods across the border, although such acts are banned.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid