North and South Korea Agree to Remove 22 Guard Posts at the DMZ

The military authorities of North and South Korea on Wednesday verified the removal of a total of 22 guard posts along their border, South Korea’s presidential office said.

 

The South’s verification teams crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the North in the morning to check the removal of 11 guard posts within 1 kilometer of the border with the South, according to the South’s Defense Ministry.

 

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The North’s verification teams crossed into the South in the afternoon to do the same. One guard post per side was retained for historic value but all firearms were removed. It’s difficult to comprehend because, as we all know, North Korea is an extremely violent and hostile nation that sees Capitalism and Democracy as a threat to it’s existence. It has spoken many times about destroying South Korea, Japan and most especially the United States.

 

The removal of the guard posts was part of an agreement that the two Koreas signed at an inter-Korean summit held between South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang in September to ease military tension between the two sides.

 

It is considered a preliminary measure and the Koreas are expected to discuss removing more guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone, a 4-km-wide, 250 km-long stretch of land between the two Koreas.

 

Twenty guard posts had been destroyed by the end of last month. And it is speculated that there may be many more guard posts that will be destroyed in the future as a result of the Inter-Korean Summit which aims to make peace once and for all and unite the two divided Koreas.

 

However, there are still many skeptics saying that this is just a new tactic for North Korea to infiltrate and eliminate high-value South Korean targets and assests.

 

Reference: North, South Korea verify removal of 22 guard posts along border