Category: DMZ

It’s official the JSA has now been disarmed:

The two Koreas and the U.S.-led U.N Command (UNC) on Thursday wrapped up the process of disarming the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Seoul’s defense ministry said.

As of 1 p.m., they completed the work of withdrawing military posts, armed troops and firearms from the JSA in the buffer zone separating the two Koreas, in line with last month’s inter-Korean agreement aimed at reducing tensions, preventing accidental clashes and building mutual trust.

On Friday and Saturday, the three sides will carry out joint verification work to ensure that the JSA is completely disarmed.

“The military authorities of the two Koreas and the UNC will make joint efforts to ensure that the JSA disarmament, stated in the Sept. 19 military agreement, will be implemented normally,” the ministry said in a statement.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the ROK soldiers there better be ready to put their taekwondo to use.

The important thing to remember is that this concession is easily reversible:

North and South Korea and the UN Command agreed on Monday (Oct 22) to withdraw firearms and guard posts in an area within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) this week, Seoul’s defence ministry said, the latest move in a fast-improving relationship.

The three sides held their second round of talks at the village of Panmunjom to discuss ways to demilitarise the border in line with a recent inter-Korean pact reached at last month’s summit in Pyongyang.

The US-led UNC, which has overseen affairs in the DMZ since the end of hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, was not immediately available for comment, but it said on Friday it supports the two Koreas’ efforts to implement their military deal.

The announcement comes amid US concerns that the inter-Korean military initiative could undermine defence readiness and comes without substantial progress on North Korea’s promised denuclearisation.

The neighbours are looking to withdraw 11 guard posts within a 1km radius of the Military Demarcation Line on their border by the end of the year.

They also plan to pull out all firearms from the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom and cut to 35 each the numbers of personnel stationed there and share information on surveillance equipment.  [Strait Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would think the American JSA battalion commander will have a well rehearsed battle drill ready to issue weapons at a moments notice in response to this.  Does anyone really think the North Koreans will not have weapons stashed on their side of the border?  Will the UNC be allowed to conduct no notice inspections to verify?  I doubt it.

It will be interesting to see how the US reacts to this:

The two Koreas and the United Nations Command (UNC) discussed disarmament of the Joint Security Area (JSA) Tuesday amid expectations for unarmed soldiers to “guard” the inter-Korean border area in a near future.

“The three-way consultation body had negotiation on measures on having a weapons-free JSA, including the withdrawal of firearms and guard posts,” according to the Ministry of National Defense.

Army Colonel Cho Yong-geun headed the South’s three-member delegation, with the North led by Colonel Om Chang-nam, according to the ministry. United States Army Colonel Burke Hamilton also represented the UNC for the hours-long discussions.

The trilateral meeting is aimed at finalizing details to realize complete disarmament at the JSA. The two Koreas reached a consensus over the plan by signing a joint military agreement during an inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang last month.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if this just gets slow rolled because who wants to put faith in the North Koreans complying with this agreement?

One way the US could respond is that they will disarm the JSA if the North Koreans agree to withdraw their artillery 50 kilometers north of the DMZ.

By declaring the NLL a maritime peace zone the Moon administration has given in to North Korean demands that dispute the ROK’s sovereignty of the NLL, of course the Kim regime is going to agree with this:

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Friday that the leaders of the two Koreas have recognized the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a de facto sea border, as the term was included in this year’s key inter-Korean agreements.

The remarks came amid a dispute over whether the communist state now acknowledges the maritime boundary that it has long disputed on the grounds that it was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led U.N. Command after the 1950-53 Korean War.

In the April inter-Korean summit declaration, the two Koreas jointly used the NLL term, while pledging to transform areas surrounding the tense boundary in the West Sea into a “maritime peace zone.” That term also appears in last month’s military agreement aimed at reducing tensions and preventing accidental clashes.

Seoul has used the two agreements to argue that the North has recognized the NLL.

“The two leaders agreed to turn the areas around the NLL into a maritime peace zone and also reaffirmed that in the September military agreement,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

“This means that the two leaders have recognized the NLL,” it added.  [Yonhap]

So what is a maritime peace zone that the Kim regime is so happy to recognize?  President Moon’s plan has been to surrender sovereignty of the NLL to the North Koreans by allowing joint fishing along the maritime border.  This plan actually dates back an entire decade to the Roh Moo-hyun administration when Moon Jae-in was President Roh’s Chief of Staff.  This map shows why the North Koreans are happy with the is arrangement:

Compare the two maps and the proposed joint fishing zones nearly mirror North Korea’s NLL claims.  The giving up of sovereignty of this maritime territory will make it harder to defend the South Korean islands along the NLL.  Such an agreement would also set a precedent that the Kim regime’s claim against the legitimacy of the NLL is valid.  The last time a South Korean leftist government tried to give away the NLL the ROK Defense Ministry was furious.  That is likely why the Moon administration cleaned house at the Ministry of Defense before moving forward with this plan.

So will the ROK media interview the families of the ROK sailors killed defending the NLL to get their perspective on this?  I doubt it since the Moon administration has consolidated control over most of the South Korean media as well.

3 key invasion routes fm #NorthKorea to #SouthKorea: Cheolwon, Gaesong-Munsan (near JSA) & east coast (in Gangwon Prov) approaches. "Remains recovery" is a cover. If they really felt it priority, NK could return 500 still living SK POWs. Instead, invasion routes are clearing. https://t.co/mttjKYJCZS

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) October 1, 2018

South Korean troops begin work to remove land mines at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) near Chorwon, Gangwon Province, on Oct. 2, 2018. (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap)

If the ROK is removing landmines which are part of their defenses along the DMZ, shouldn’t the North Koreans do something in return like withdraw large parts of their military away from the DMZ?:

South and North Korea will begin to implement the inter-Korean military accord signed during last week’s summit between their leaders in Pyongyang.

The two Koreas plan to remove mines and explosives in the Demilitarized Zone area located near Cherwon, Gangwon Province for two months from October first.

The removal is part of preparations for a joint excavation of remains of about 300 soldiers killed during the Korean War, including those of United Nations forces.

The two Koreas will also remove mines around the truce village of Panmunjeom from October first to 20th as part of a plan to disarm the troops in the Joint Security Area in the DMZ.  [KBS World Radio]

A group of bicyclers starts their five-day trip to the Demilitarized Zone bisecting the two Koreas on the opening day of the 2018 Tour de DMZ in Gangwha, west of Seoul, on Aug. 31, 2018, in this photo provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. (Yonhap)

This seems an awful lot of fencing to be removed from the border areas:

South Korea’s defense ministry plans to gradually remove more than half of all coastal and riverside barbed wire fences across the country to help ease residents’ inconveniences, officials said Thursday.

The move, which is part of the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative aimed at creating a smaller yet stronger military, came amid Seoul’s push for inter-Korean cooperation and rapprochement.

The ministry plans to inspect all fences across the nation, which measure about 300 kilometers in total, to determine which can be eliminated in a way that does not hurt the country’s coastal defense.

“At this point in time, we think that some 57 percent of the fences can possibly be removed,” a ministry official said, declining to be named. “We will take action this year as to the sections that the military can eliminate on its own, while we plan to take care of other fences in stages.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I think it is important to remember, demilitarizing the DMZ is more beneficial to the North Koreans because the South Koreans are the ones in a defense posture to defend against a North Korean attack.  Let’s hope the ROK military representatives slow roll this and don’t make any concessions that threaten the overall security of the country:

South and North Korea agreed Tuesday on the need to turn the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a peace area and remove firearms from the Joint Security Area (JSA) in a step to end a military standoff along their border.

Seoul and Pyongyang also reached a “broad consensus” to jointly excavate the remains in the DMZ of South Korean and U.S. troops killed during the Korean War.

But the two Koreas failed to reach an agreement on releasing a joint statement, according to the head of the South’s five-member delegation at the generals meeting.

“A trial pullout from guard posts operated by each within the JSA will follow as the two sides shared the understanding to back away from their long-running confrontation since the end of the Korean War,” Major General Kim Do-gyun told reporters.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.