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South Korean inspectors return home after complete an inter-Korean joint survey of 400km of railway from Kaesong to Sinuiju along the Gyeongui Line on Dec. 5. (provided by the Ministry of Unification)

The South and North Korean militaries recently agreed to send seven-person inspection teams on Dec. 12 to each of the 11 guard posts (GPs) on both sides of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that were part of a recently completed probationary dismantlement. These teams will be responsible for verifying that the GPs have been vacated and demolished. This is the first time since the Armistice Agreement of 1953 that the implementation of a military agreement has been verified by mutual visits.

“The South and North Korean militaries agreed to verify the measures taken on a probationary basis to vacate and destroy GPs as part of implementing the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA) signed on Sept. 19. This verification will occur during site visits on Dec. 12,” said South Korean Vice Minister of National Defense Seo Ju-seok on Dec. 6.

The two sides will be dispatching seven-person inspection teams to each of the GPs. In accordance with the CMA, South and North Korea both withdrew troops from 11 GPs and then demolished them (except for one GP on each side, which they agreed to preserve). The inspection teams will be composed of a mixture of soldiers and civilians, totaling 154 people altogether. There will be five inspectors and two photographers on each team, under the lead of a colonel.

“Each of the South and North Korean inspection teams will meet at a previously agreed upon point on the military demarcation line (MDL). These teams will receive guidance from their counterparts and personally visit the sites of the vacated GPs and verify their vacancy and demolition. South Korean teams will be visiting North Korean GPs in the morning, and North Korean teams will be visiting South Korean GPs in the afternoon,” Seo said.

“South and North Korea are planning to open up temporary corridors leading to the GPs in question to facilitate visits by the inspection teams from both sides,” Seo said.

“Since the GPs that were shut down are less than a kilometer apart, the inspection teams will be moving on foot. This week, we will begin opening up temporary corridors that are the size of a walking path,” said a senior official at South Korea’s Defense Ministry.

“We hope that the new corridors that South and North Korean soldiers will use as they inspect the complete demolition of the front line guard posts will be historical paths that help transform the DMZ from a symbol of division, confrontation and conflict into one of peace,” Seo said.

The South and North Korean inspectors will be focusing on determining whether the facilities have been completely and irreversibly destroyed and whether they have been rendered inoperable and incapable of being converted to military use.

By Yoo Kang-moon, senior staff writer

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