SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Defense Ministry said on Monday it proposed talks with North Korea’s military to discuss defining a clearer boundary along the military demarcation line between the two Koreas to avoid the risk of possible military clashes.
“The South Korean military formally proposes to hold military talks with North Korea to discuss setting a baseline for the military demarcation line in order to avoid accidental clashes between the two Koreas and ease military tensions,” Kim Hong-cheol, South Korea’s vice defense minister for national defense policy, said in a televised statement.
While North Korea was laying mines, laying roads and erecting barbed wire fences on its side of the border, some of its soldiers repeatedly invaded the South Korean side, raising concerns about a possible confrontation, according to Kim.
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“This situation is believed to be due to the loss of many of the military demarcation line markers installed at the time of the signing of the armistice agreement in 1953, and that the South and North have different perceptions of the border in some areas,” Kim said.
Although deadly clashes have occurred occasionally over the decades since open fighting ceased following an armistice that effectively ended the 1950-1953 Korean War, Seoul said there has been an increase in North Korean activities and incursions around the Military Demarcation Line.
North Korean soldiers have invaded the South Korean side 10 or more times so far this year, compared with fewer than 10 times in all of 2024, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said.
North Korean soldiers have been laying landmines and barriers and creating wastelands along the front line since last year, according to the South Korean military.
As all direct military communications between North and South Korea have been cut off, the proposal for talks is expected to be sent to the North through the United Nations Command, Yonhap News Agency reported.
North Korea has not responded to any requests for dialogue with the South since leader Kim Jong Un defined the two Koreas as separate and ‘hostile’ nations at the end of 2023.
