War remains recovery project in DMZ resumes after brief suspension

Ministry of Defense-Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network

SEOUL — The military on Thursday resumed a war remains excavation project in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas after a brief suspension following the North’s threat to take military action against the South.

The excavation project on Arrowhead Ridge was halted the previous day, one day after North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in the western border town of Kaesong on Tuesday.

The military appears to have concluded that the work can resume despite the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Under a bilateral military accord signed on Sept. 19, 2018, South and North Korea agreed to launch a joint excavation project on the ridge, but the South has carried out the project alone as the North did not respond to calls for joint work.

Located in Cheorwon, around 90 kilometers northeast of Seoul, the ridge was one of the fiercest battlefields during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The North is threatening to scrap the military deal altogether, unveiling its plan to redeploy troops to an inter-Korean industrial park in Kaesong and the Mount Kumgang joint tourist zone on the east coast.

The North also said it will restore guard posts removed from the DMZ and resume all kinds of regular military exercises near the inter-Korean border in violation of the military agreement with the South. Yonhap