SEOUL, June 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's defense ministry on Wednesday expressed deep concern over the military action plans announced by the army of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Ministry of National Defense said in a statement that it expresses deep concern over the announcement by the General Staff of the Korean People's Army of the detailed military action plans.

The ministry noted that the military action plans squarely run counter to the past inter-Korean agreements, including the comprehensive military agreement signed by the two Koreas in September 2018 after the summit in Pyongyang between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

It said these moves will thwart two decades of joint efforts and outcomes by South Korea and the DPRK to develop inter-Korean relations and keep peace on the Korean Peninsula.

If the DPRK actually puts the plans into practice, it will pay the price for sure, the ministry noted.

The ministry said the South Korean military has been maintaining a firm defense posture while closely monitoring the moves of the DPRK forces around the clock, adding that it will continue efforts to ensure that military tensions would not be escalated through stable management of situations.

The DPRK's General Staff of the Korean People's Army earlier Wednesday announced the detailed military action plans to be approved by the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

Under the action plans, units of the regiment level and necessary firepower sub-units will be deployed in the Mount Kumgang tourist area and the Kaesong Industrial Zone, the two most important symbols of inter-Korean cooperation that have been closed down during the previous confrontation period.

The DPRK will also restore guard posts, which had been withdrawn from demilitarized zone under the inter-Korean military agreement in 2018, and resume all kinds of regular military exercises in the areas close to the inter-Korean border.

The inter-Korean joint liaison office, which was opened in September 2018 at the DPRK's border town of Kaesong for round-the-clock communications between the two Koreas, was demolished by explosion on Tuesday.

The demolition came three days after Kim Yo Jong, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, warned of it in protest against anti-DPRK propaganda leaflets flown across the border by South Korean civic groups, composed mostly of defectors from the DPRK.