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South Korean President Moon Jae-in gives the opening address for the inaugural meeting of the 19th National Unification Advisory Council at the Blue House on Sept. 30. (Blue House photo pool)

On Sept. 30, South Korean President Moon Jae-in unveiled a plan to turn the area around the demilitarized zone (DMZ) into an international peace zone.

During the inaugural meeting of the 19th National Unification Advisory Council, which was held at the Blue House on Monday, Moon explained that he’d made the proposal during his speech before the UN General Assembly.

“If North Korea sincerely implements denuclearization, then we and the international community need to show corresponding action,” he said.

“Turning the DMZ into an international peace zone is a matter of building trust through action in return for the actions by North Korea, and through the international community’s participation in activities within the DMZ, we can guarantee mutual security for South and North,” he explained.

In an address before the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 24, Moon said, “If we designate the area connecting Panmunjom and Kaesong in North Korea as a Peace and Cooperation District and transform it into a zone where both Koreas and the international community can jointly explore the path to prosperity on the Korean Peninsula – and if the DMZ comes to house UN offices already stationed in the two Koreas and other international organizations related to peace, ecology and culture and emerge as a center for research on peace, peacekeeping, arms control and trust building – it can become an international peace zone in name as well as substance.”

Indeed, the administration is currently pursuing plans for individual tourism visits to the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom by families and other small schools as of the first half of next year.

“The Ministry of Unification recently began discussions with the relevant agencies on possibly allowing small group tourism at Panmunjom,” a Ministry of Unification official said that day.

“Our aim is to allow tourism to take place as of the first half of next year,” the official explained. If individual tourism visits are permitted, families and small student and other groups of up to 30 people would be able to individually visit the JSA at Panmunjom and freely observe areas on the South Korean side, including the pedestrian bridge used by the South and North Korean leaders for a walk during their April 27 summit last year and a commemorative tree the two of them planted.

Moon also called on the NUAC to muster efforts for the joint inter-Korean hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympics.

“A shared 2032 Olympics between Seoul and Pyongyang is another dream, one of the Korean Peninsula going beyond peace to become one,” he said.

“This will be an event for proclaiming inter-Korean cooperation and unity to the world on a basis of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” he predicted.

Moon additionally underscored the importance of North Korea-US working-level negotiations – which are expected to begin shortly – and an eventual third summit between Pyongyang and Washington.

“While attending the UN General Assembly meeting last week, I met with President Trump, and we had in-depth discussions on ideas for practical progress with denuclearization and the establishment of permanent peace that will lead to North Korea-US working-level talks and a third North Korea-US summit,” he said.

“The clock indicating an era of denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula is moving again,” he added.

Moon also noted that “the pace of steps toward working-level negotiations between North Korea and the US to prepare for a third bilateral summit is picking up.”

“What is crucial here is the wisdom not to miss an opportunity, decisiveness, and bold execution capabilities,” he stressed.

In a call for support, he said the “path of peace of prosperity can only be reached through harnessing the wisdom of capabilities of all citizens.”

NUAC originally planned to hold a launch ceremony at KINTEX in Ilsan with over 10,000 people attending, but decided to hold a smaller-scale launch at the Blue House that day due to the current African swine fever (ASF) outbreak.

By Seong Yeon-cheol and Noh Ji-won, staff reporters

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