SEOUL, April 4 -- South Korea's military said Thursday that the UN Command was "very positive" about the opening of trails in the South Korean side of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has divided the Korean Peninsula since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Col. Roh Jae-cheon, deputy spokesman of Seoul's defense ministry, told a press briefing that the UN command was very positive about the South Korean government's plan to open the DMZ Peace Trails.
Roh said an official approval of the plan had yet to be conducted by the UN Command, which handles DMZ issues as the Korean War ended with an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty.
The plan was announced Wednesday to open a part of the South Korean side of the DMZ to ordinary people later this month on a trial basis.
The DMZ Peace Trails would be created in three border towns in South Korea: Goseong, Cheorwon and Paju on the inter-Korean border's eastern, central and western sections each, where the withdrawal of a part of guard posts and the excavation of the remains of soldiers killed in the Korean War were conducted to ease military tensions.
The 7.9 km-long Goseong peace trail was scheduled to be opened first on April 27, but it did not include the DMZ section. The Cheorwon and Paju trails would include the trails inside the South Korean side of the DMZ.
The deputy spokesman noted that there would be no safety issue for civilian visitors as the opening was based on military trust between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) after the military agreement signed in September last year.
The military agreement was signed by defense chiefs of the two Koreas during the third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un last September in Pyongyang.