WASHINGTON -- The United States is concerned about North Korea's disregard of a tension-reduction agreement it signed with South Korea in 2018, a state department official said Wednesday.

"We are concerned about the DPRK's apparent disregard of the 2018 comprehensive military agreement, and we call on it to end its irresponsible and escalatory behavior," department press secretary Ned Price said during a daily press briefing.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered his aides to consider suspending the inter-Korean agreement on Wednesday after North Korea sent five spy drones across the heavily-fortified inter-Korean border last week in what Seoul has called a clear violation of the 2018 agreement.

North Korea has explicitly violated the military agreement 17 times since it was signed, according to Seoul's presidential office.

"The DPRK has continued to engage in a series of provocations," Price said when asked about the possible suspension of the inter-Korean agreement, while declining to provide any US position on the issue.

Pyongyang fired some 70 ballistic missiles in 2022 alone, setting a new annual record that far exceeded its previous record of 25. (Yonhap)