Military restores dismantled guard posts inside DMZ

The military has restored all of the 11 guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas that had been dismantled under a 2018 inter-Korean military tension reduction pact, an opposition lawmaker said Friday.

The 19.6 billion-won (US$14.4 million) project to restore the guard posts concluded last month, according to a report submitted to Rep. Kang Dae-sik by the Army.

As part of the 2018 military deal, the two Koreas dismantled 10 guard posts and disarmed one guard post, without physically dismantling it, inside the DMZ each, but they have both taken steps to restore and rebuild them after Pyongyang unilaterally scrapped the agreement in 2023.

Following the move, the number of South Korea’s guard posts had been reduced to around 70, less than half of the North’s 150.

But a declassified report showed last year that South Korean officials dispatched to verify the North Korean guard posts had difficulties accessing their underground facilities, barring them from properly checking them.

Troops were reportedly conducting surveillance operations at the restored front-line guard posts, but the facilities have not been restored to the full-scale level of before they were dismantled, a military official said.

A Joint Chiefs of Staff official said operations are normally being conducted in the 11 areas, without further elaborating citing the safety of the troops.

During his presidential campaign, President Lee Jae Myung had said he will revive the inter-Korean military tension reduction pact and ensure peace in the border area. South Korea also fully suspended the agreement in June last year in response to the North’s repeated launches of trash-carrying balloons.

Earlier in the day, Defense Minister nominee Ahn Gyu-back said he will review the inter-Korean pact but dismissed the possibility of its immediate restoration, saying civilian exchange should come first.