Koreas and UN Command discuss demilitarising border

[Swordsmyth]

The two Koreas and the US-led United Nations Command held talks Tuesday on demilitarising a section of the heavily fortified border dividing the peninsula, as a diplomatic thaw gathers pace.
"The three parties examined the progress in removing landmines at the Joint Security Area (JSA)...and discussed other practical matters regarding steps toward disarming the area," Seoul's defense ministry said in a statement.
The JSA, also known as the truce village of Panmunjom, is the only spot along the tense, 250-kilometre (155-mile) frontier where troops from the two countries stand face to face.
It was a designated neutral zone until the "axe murder incident" in 1976, when North Korean soldiers attacked a work party trying to chop down a tree inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), leaving two US army officers dead.
South and North Korea -- which are technically still at war -- agreed to take measures to ease military tensions on their border at a meeting in Pyongyang last month between President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un.
Earlier this month, the two sides began removing landmines at the JSA -- which is now often used for talks between the two Koreas -- as part of the deal, and are due to withdraw "unnecessary" surveillance equipment once the landmine work is completed.
The September summit was the third this year between the leaders as a remarkable rapprochement takes hold on the peninsula.

Tuesday's talks were the first meeting of a trilateral JSA commission made up of the two Koreas and the UN Command, which is included as it retains jurisdiction over the southern half of the JSA.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/koreas-un-command-begin-talks-demilitarising-border-013614737.html

[Zippyjuan]

The JSA is only a couple blocks long section of the 155 mile border. They aren't removing any of the other million mines along the border.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/DOkf0PaWkAEcz4B.jpg

[Origanalist]

The JSA is only a couple blocks long section of the 155 mile border. They aren't removing any of the other million mines along the border.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/DOkf0PaWkAEcz4B.jpg

Gotta start somewhere.

[Swordsmyth]

North and South Korea and the U.N. Command agreed on Monday to withdraw firearms and guard posts in the demilitarized zone village of Panmunjom this week, Seoul’s defense ministry said, the latest move in a fast-improving relationship.

The neighbors are looking to withdraw 11 guard posts within a 1-km (0.6-mile) radius of the Military Demarcation Line on their border by the end of the year.
They also plan to pull out all firearms from a Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom and cut to 35 each the numbers of personnel stationed there and share information on surveillance equipment.
At Monday’s meeting, the three sides agreed to remove firearms and guard posts from the JSA by Thursday, and carry out a joint inspection over the following two days, the ministry said.
The two Koreas have been removing landmines around the area as part of the agreement and they confirmed the completion of the demining operation at the talks with the UNC.
“We discussed the timeline of the pullout of firearms and guard posts, as well as ways to adjust the number of guard personnel and conduct joint inspections,” the ministry said in a statement.
The agreement also includes a halt in “all hostile acts” and a no-fly zone around the border.

More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea-border/two-koreas-u-n-forces-agree-to-remove-weapons-at-border-idUSKCN1MW1G2

[oyarde]

If north korea would surrender and pull back from the border then the South Koreans could as well . The current state of things arrived from communist invasion from china and north korea. Here the communist invasion was too subtle for most americans to notice .

[Swordsmyth]

During general-level military talks at Panmunjom, North Korea and South Korea agreed to destroy 22 guard posts along their border by the end of November, AP reported Oct. 26. They also resolved to form a joint military committee to enforce their September agreement to reduce border tensions, as well as create a group to study safe civilian navigation of the Han River estuary.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situation-report/north-korea-south-korea-militaries-agree-destroy-22-guard-posts-end-november

[TheCount]

The JSA is only a couple blocks long section of the 155 mile border. They aren't removing any of the other million mines along the border.

They already finished demining. It was for a set period of 20 days.


During the demining process, the North discovered and disposed of some five land mines, while the South found no land mines in the area of its responsibility.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/10/19/0200000000AEN20181019004651315.html

[Zippyjuan]

They already finished demining. It was for a set period of 20 days.


http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2018/10/19/0200000000AEN20181019004651315.html

Cool. Five mines in a two block area.

[TheCount]

Cool. Five mines in a two block area.

Supposedly.


If you were in charge of the NK demining effort, would you tell Kim that you didn't find any?

[Swordsmyth]

Cool. Five mines in a two block area.


Supposedly.


If you were in charge of the NK demining effort, would you tell Kim that you didn't find any?

At 12:01 on November 1, North and South Korea began a halt (https://www.nknews.org/2018/10/two-koreas-end-military-drills-begin-operation-of-no-fly-zone-near-mdl-mnd/) to land, air, and sea military exercises and began the operation of a designated no-fly zone along the military demarcation line (MDL). The measures are in line with September’s Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain, signed by the two Koreas’ defense ministers on the sidelines of the fifth inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.

NK News reports:

The two Koreas previously agreed to halt live-fire artillery drills and field training exercises (FTX) at the regiment level five kilometers from the MDL. At sea, both sides have stopped all live-fire and maritime maneuvers within 80 kilometer buffer zones on the east and west coast. The two sides will install covers on the the barrels of coastal artillery and ship guns and close all gunports within the designated zone.

The two sides are also expected to remove all guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by the end of November. Starting next month, after the completion of a joint inspection by the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command, the Joint Security Area of the DMZ is expected open for people to move about freely between the north and south sides for the first time in sixty-five years.

*

https://www.globalresearch.ca/two-koreas-halt-military-exercises-and-close-gunports-once-aimed-at-each-other/5658735

[Swordsmyth]

North Korea blew up 10 of its front-line guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on Tuesday in accordance with agreements made with South Korea earlier this year.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/gma/north-kore...173900170.html (https://www.yahoo.com/gma/north-korea-detonates-dmz-guard-173900170.html)

[Swordsmyth]

North and South Korea have connected a road across their shared border for the first time in 14 years, Seoul's defence ministry said Thursday in the latest reconciliation gesture between the neighbours.The dirt road, which is wholly within the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, will be used for joint operations next year to recover remains from the 1950-53 Korean War.
The 12-metre-wide construction of the route in Cheorwon, near the mid-point of the DMZ, is one of several steps agreed at the Pyongyang summit between the South's President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un in September.
The neighbours also pledged to remove bunkers and weapons from the border truce village of Panmunjom.


Pictures handed out by Seoul's defence ministry Thursday showed a South Korean soldier and a North Korean counterpart taking part in the "recent" roadworks holding their hands out toward each other, with their colleagues watching.
"It is historically significant for the North and the South to open a new passage and jointly engage in operations to recover remains of war dead at the place which saw the worst battles during the war," the ministry said.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/two-koreas-connect-dmz-road-across-border-seoul-081545371.html