Key gov't-led DMZ projects remain stalled as UNC denies clearance over safety risks

Seoul officials disclosed on Tuesday that a series of government-led initiatives inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) have been stalled for over two years due to the United Nations Command (UNC) withholding clearance, citing safety risks. South Korea began these DMZ projects in 2020, focusing on ecological and forestry studies, the revival of abandoned villages, and assessing potential UNESCO World Heritage candidate sites as part of a 2018 inter-Korean summit agreement.

These projects were carried out despite the winter season and even during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they came to a halt in May 2024 after the UNC, responsible for DMZ entry control under the Armistice Agreement from the 1950-53 Korean War, denied clearance. The security situation along the heavily fortified border was cited as the reason for the refusal.

Tensions between the two Koreas had escalated in May 2024 due to South Korea-based civic groups sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea, and Pyongyang responding with trash-carrying balloons. South Korea's liberal President Lee Jae Myung's administration sought to restart these projects as recently as May 2024, but the UNC still denied access, arguing that the 2018 military tension-reduction pact between Seoul and Pyongyang was invalidated.

This stance also extended to a history museum near the Inter-Korean Transit Office in Paju, north of Seoul, where the UNC claimed jurisdiction, based on recent border remeasurements that suggested more of the facility lies north of the Southern Limit Line, the southern boundary of the DMZ. The UNC emphasized that each DMZ access request must carefully consider potential risks for personnel, weighing the value of a proposed research activity against these risks.

The UNC reviews all access requests under established procedures and in coordination with the South Korean government.