Tag: DMZ

A group of bicyclers starts their five-day trip to the Demilitarized Zone bisecting the two Koreas on the opening day of the 2018 Tour de DMZ in Gangwha, west of Seoul, on Aug. 31, 2018, in this photo provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. (Yonhap)

It looks like General Brooks is keeping an open mind about this ROK proposal:

The top U.S. commander in South Korea expressed support Wednesday for a plan to remove some guard posts from the tense border, saying it’s a “reasonable” risk that may help denuclearization talks with the North.

South Korea’s defense ministry has said it plans to close about 10 guard posts along the Demilitarized Zone and expects the North to reciprocate as part of a bilateral summit agreement to ease tensions.

Gen. Vincent Brooks — who wears three hats as the leader of U.S. Forces Korea, the United Nations Command and the Combined Forces Command — said he supports the initiative to reduce tensions and build trust between the rival nations.

“I have some concerns about what that means militarily to the ability to defend along the Military Demarcation Line and in depth beyond it,” he said at a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club.

“I believe that there’s a reasonable amount of risk that’s involved in this, not an excessive amount of risk,” to the defense of South Korea, he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

This seems an awful lot of fencing to be removed from the border areas:

South Korea’s defense ministry plans to gradually remove more than half of all coastal and riverside barbed wire fences across the country to help ease residents’ inconveniences, officials said Thursday.

The move, which is part of the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative aimed at creating a smaller yet stronger military, came amid Seoul’s push for inter-Korean cooperation and rapprochement.

The ministry plans to inspect all fences across the nation, which measure about 300 kilometers in total, to determine which can be eliminated in a way that does not hurt the country’s coastal defense.

“At this point in time, we think that some 57 percent of the fences can possibly be removed,” a ministry official said, declining to be named. “We will take action this year as to the sections that the military can eliminate on its own, while we plan to take care of other fences in stages.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I think it is important to remember, demilitarizing the DMZ is more beneficial to the North Koreans because the South Koreans are the ones in a defense posture to defend against a North Korean attack.  Let’s hope the ROK military representatives slow roll this and don’t make any concessions that threaten the overall security of the country:

South and North Korea agreed Tuesday on the need to turn the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a peace area and remove firearms from the Joint Security Area (JSA) in a step to end a military standoff along their border.

Seoul and Pyongyang also reached a “broad consensus” to jointly excavate the remains in the DMZ of South Korean and U.S. troops killed during the Korean War.

But the two Koreas failed to reach an agreement on releasing a joint statement, according to the head of the South’s five-member delegation at the generals meeting.

“A trial pullout from guard posts operated by each within the JSA will follow as the two sides shared the understanding to back away from their long-running confrontation since the end of the Korean War,” Major General Kim Do-gyun told reporters.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Shown is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border with North Korea in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, on July 24, 2018. The Defense Ministry said on the day it is pushing for a plan to withdraw forces and equipment from border guard posts “on a trial basis” in line with the April inter-Korean summit agreement to halt all hostile acts and reduce tensions. (Yonhap)

The big question is will the North Koreans likewise remove an equal number of troops and equipment?  If so how far away from the DMZ are they moving?:

South Korea’s defense ministry said Tuesday that it is pushing for a plan to withdraw forces and their equipment from border guard posts “on a trial basis” in line with the April inter-Korean summit agreement to halt all hostile acts and reduce tensions.

In a policy briefing to the National Assembly’s defense committee, the ministry also said that it would consider the “full-scale pullout” in sync with a cross-border survey of historical remains and ecological features within the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.

After their summit at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to transform the DMZ into a “peace zone in a genuine sense.”

“To realize the transformation of the DMZ into a peace zone, as stated in the Panmunjom Declaration, (the ministry) is seeking a plan to expand the (withdrawal) program in stages after pulling out troops and equipment from the guard posts within the DMZ,” the ministry said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if the North Koreans will demand payment for allowing searches for war remains inside their section of the DMZ?:

President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday he will push for the recovery of the remains of fallen soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the Koreas in line with the improvement of ties with the North.

In his address at the 63rd Memorial Day ceremony at the National Cemetery in Daejeon, he expressed hopes that the fresh detente will pave the way for inter-Korean joint efforts to account for tens of thousands of service members still listed as missing in action from the 1950-53 Korean War.

“We will continue efforts to recover the remains of military and police members who fell during the Korean War until we find the last remaining person,” the commander in chief said.

“When South-North relations improve, we will push for the recovery of the remains in the DMZ first of all. We will also be able to retrieve the remains of U.S. and other foreign soldiers who participated in the war.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans have long attempted to milk money out of the US for allowing searches for war remains within North Korea.

South Korean soldiers walk over the tracks of the Gyeongui railway blocked by a barbed wire fence inside the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas at the western section of the inter-Korean border in Paju, north of Seoul, on May 15, 2018. The leaders of South and North Korea agreed to link cross-border roads and railways on April 27 when they held the historic inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the DMZ, raising prospects for South Korea’s project to build a railway connection with North Korea and Eurasia. The Gyeongui railway links Seoul with Sinuiju, a city on the Korean Peninsula’s border with China. (Yonhap)

Down go the propaganda speakers again, at least until the next time the North Koreans decide to start another provocation cycle:

Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense removed propaganda loudspeakers near the military demarcation line (MDL), Tuesday, in fulfillment of a part of the Panmunjeom Declaration signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The ministry began the dismantling at 2 p.m.; and it took about an hour for around 30 people from the military and a speaker manufacturer to remove one speaker. The work in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, was covered by the media. The ministry did not say how long it would take to completely remove the dozens of speakers along the border

The move follows an agreement in the declaration announced Friday, in which the two Koreas agreed to cease all hostile acts against each other and eliminate any means of activities considered hostile in the areas along the MDL starting May 1, with a goal to turn the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a real peace zone.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if it is a crew drill for these ROK Army soldiers to put propaganda speakers up and down as quickly as possible because we all know they are going back up again at some point?  😉

This explains a lot of why this North Korean soldier was in such a rush to defect across the DMZ:

A North Korean soldier who made a desperate dash across the border in November escaped after causing a person’s death, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday, quoting an unidentified intelligence official.

According to the report in newspaper Dong-A, the confession came from Oh Chung Sung—or Oh Chong Song, depending on the translation—over the course of a routine interrogation led by the the South Korean spy agency.

“I committed a crime in North Korea, which caused a death,” Oh reportedly said. Though South Korean media reported his comments about killing someone, the nature of the alleged crime was not clear.

The South Korean Ministry of Unification did not confirm the reports. “The investigation has not been completed yet,” a ministry spokesperson told reporters at a press conference, quoted in South Korean news agency Yonhap. “We cannot confirm specific details of the incident.” [Newsweek]

You can read the rest at the link, but it is not expected that the ROK will send the defector back to North Korea despite the murder.

https://www.rokdrop.net/2017/11/north-korean-soldier-who-defected-across-the-dmz-will-survive-but-was-in-very-poor-health-before-being-shot/