Paju section of DMZ Peace Trail to open
on August 10
- Application acceptance begins July 26 -
July 26, 2019
The ROK Government announced that the Paju section of the DMZ Peace
Trail will be open to the public starting August 10.
The
Paju section will be the third such opening following the Goseong
section on April 27 and the Cheorwon section on June 1. It will be the
first time opening an area where a Guard Post (GP) was removed from
the DMZ in accordance with the ｢2018 Agreement on the Implementation
of the Historic Panmunjeom Declaration in the Military Domain｣.
The South and the North, in efforts to transform the DMZ
into a peace zone, agreed to withdraw 11 GPs from the DMZ on a trial
basis. The two Koreas accordingly removed 10 GPs and preserved one GP.
The GP in Paju was one of those removed. The ROKG hopes the general
public can feel for themselves the progressing peace process on the
Korean Peninsula through the opening of the DMZ Peace Trail in
Paju.
South Korean nationals who wish to walk the new
peace trail can apply from July 26 through the Korea Tourism
Organization (www.durunubi.kr) or
the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (www.dmz.go.kr) on a preferred date.
The final participants will be selected by a raffle, and the results
will be posted on the website and delivered to those selected via
mobile text messages.
The program will run twice a day
and five days a week (closed Mondays and Thursdays), and each round
will consist of a group of 20 persons.
Facilities and memorials that show traces of the Korean War can
easily be found in the Paju DMZ Peace Trail. A steam locomotive
(train), which has been left derelict for more than half a century
after being bombarded during the war, is displayed at Imjingak.
Visitors can also see a bombed old township office of Jangdan past the
gate to the DMZ Peace Trail and near the site of the removed GP.
Before the opening of the Paju section, the Government will conduct
an ecological survey of the area with experts in topology, vegetation,
flora, and fauna from July 26 to 27. After the opening, unmanned
equipment will be installed to observe changes in the ecosystem.
Furthermore, the Government will conduct surveys of the east-west
section of the DMZ Peace Trail (Ganghwa, Incheon - Goseong, Gangwon;
456km) by the end of the year and establish regional bases by 2022,
with the objective of promoting the DMZ Peace Trail as a global attraction.
