SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s defence ministry said on Monday that it has proposed talks with North Korea’s military to discuss setting a clearer boundary along the military demarcation line between the two Koreas to avoid the risk of potential military clashes.
“The South Korean military formally proposes to hold military talks with North Korea to discuss setting a baseline for the military demarcation line to prevent accidental clashes between the two Koreas and ease military tensions,” Kim Hong-cheol, South Korea’s deputy defence minister for national defence policy, said in a televised statement.
While North Korea had been laying mines, installing roads and setting up barbed wire fences on its side of the border, some of its soldiers had repeatedly intruded onto the South Korean side, raising concerns about a potential clash, Kim said.
“This situation is believed to be due to the loss of many of the military demarcation line markers installed at the time of the signing of the armistice agreement in 1953, and the South and the North have different perceptions of the boundary in some areas,” Kim said.
Although deadly clashes have occasionally occurred over the decades since open fighting stopped after an armistice effectively ended the 1950-1953 Korean War, Seoul said there has been an uptick in North Korean activity and incursions around the Military Demarcation Line.
North Korean soldiers had intruded onto the South Korean side 10 or more times so far this year, compared with less than 10 times for all of 2024, the South Korean defence ministry said.
North Korean soldiers have been installing landmines and barriers and creating wasteland along the front line since last year, according to the South Korean military.
Because all direct military communications between North and South Korea have been cut off, the proposal for talks is expected to be sent through United Nations Command to the North, the Yonhap News Agency said.
North Korea has not responded to any calls for dialogue with the South since leader Kim Jong Un defined the two Koreas as separate, “hostile” nations at the end of 2023.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Ju-min ParkEditing by Ed Davies)
