Why Seoul must not let Pyongyang off the hook for past aggressions | NK News
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September 26, 2026Sep 26, 2026

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Why Seoul must not let Pyongyang off the hook for past aggressions

South Korea should not throw out the May 24 Measures without genuine signs from the North that it's ready to change

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In March of 2010, a single North Korean submarine slipped past the border and torpedoed a ROK naval vessel (the ROKS Cheonan), killing 46 sailors – many of them young conscripts and NCOs.

Roughly ten years ago today, as evidence mounted that Pyongyang was responsible for the attack, the ROK government announced the May 24 Measures: a set of sweeping inter-Korean sanctions that cut off inter-Korean trade, banned travel of ROK citizens to the North, and shut the ROK’s maritime borders to