Koreas Start Clearing Land Mines at DMZ in Effort to Ease Tensions

SEOUL, South Korea — Army engineers from North and South Korea began clearing land mines Monday in the Demilitarized Zone between their nations as they prepared to search there for the remains of soldiers killed during the Korean War.

A similar mine-clearance operation also began in Panmunjom, a truce village in the DMZ, a buffer zone 2 1/2 miles wide. Although Panmunjom was originally created as a neutral area, it has since been the site of an armed standoff and occasional violence.

When President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, met last month in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, they agreed to take steps to lower tensions along the border, like the banning of military flights or drills near the frontier. The measures also included jointly searching for Korean War dead — including U.S. and French troops — within the DMZ and disarming Panmunjom to turn it into a “peace zone” where tourists from both sides could move around freely.

When the armistice halting the 1950-53 war was signed at Panmunjom, the U.S.-led U.N. Command agreed with Communist generals of North Korea and China to create the “demilitarized” buffer zone to keep the warring armies apart. Despite its name, the DMZ has since become the world’s most heavily fortified frontier, defended with layers of fences and numerous guard posts.

The inter-Korean border is also among the world’s most densely mined. Soldiers venturing into the zone on patrol or occasional defectors from the North have to navigate around mines that have become more treacherous as they are dislodged by floodwaters and landslides.

The army engineers’ efforts Monday began a two-month operation to clear mines and build a road to Arrowhead Hill, also known as Hill 281, in the DMZ, the South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement. Arrowhead Hill was selected as the site for them to jointly conduct a pilot search for remains within the no-man’s zone, where some of the fiercest battles of the Korean War were fought.

About 300 U.S. and French troops who fought for South Korea as U.N. forces during the war are believed to be buried around Arrowhead Hill, along with hundreds of Korean soldiers from both sides.

Moon and Kim held their first summit meeting in April at Panmunjom, which has served as a place for negotiation since the war.

Also known as the Joint Security Area, Panmunjom was originally created as the only place in the DMZ where soldiers and officials from both sides could move around freely. But the village has had its share of tensions and violence over the years.

In 1976, North Korean soldiers wielding axes killed two U.S. Army officers there. After that, a demarcation line was drawn across the village so that armed guards could patrol their own sides. Last November, North Korean troops unleashed a hail of bullets at a fellow Communist soldier dashing across the line to escape to the South. He was severely wounded but made it across the border.

Moon has been eager to turn Panmunjom into a neutral zone, as it was intended, as part of his broader efforts to improve ties with the North. His success will rest largely on whether North Korea and the United States can agree on how to denuclearize the North.

During his trip to New York late last month, Moon told President Donald Trump that Kim was willing to negotiate away his nuclear arsenal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to visit Pyongyang this month to help arrange a second meeting between Kim and Trump.

But speaking at the U.N. General Assembly last week, the North’s foreign minister, Ri Yong Ho, reiterated that his country would never give up its nuclear weapons unless Washington took “corresponding” steps, like easing sanctions and declaring an end to the war. Washington insists that North Korea denuclearize before expecting any rewards.

“We have started a bold journey toward a permanent peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said Monday in a speech marking the South’s Armed Forces Day. “Because this is a road never traveled before, it’s difficult to predict what trouble we may encounter along the way.”

Reflecting Moon’s efforts to ease tensions, South Korea skipped a parade for its military’s 70th anniversary. Instead, Moon attended a ceremony Monday welcoming the remains of 64 South Korean soldiers flown from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hawaii.

Those remains were among hundreds of Korean War dead that U.S. officials recovered at battle sites in North Korea from 1996 to 2005, when search operations were suspended.

When Kim and Trump first met in Singapore in June, they committed to recovering Korean War remains. In July, North Korea returned remains believed to be those of 55 U.S. troops killed in the war, a concession Trump has called a major diplomatic victory. Both sides agreed to help recover more remains.