[Opinion] Military Demarcation Line

The military demarcation line, or MDL, stands at the center of Korean peninsula cutting in half the demilitarized zone, which runs 4km in width. The 248 km-long line sets the border between the South and North, but put it more precisely, MDL is not a line. It is connection of dots, or 1,292 signboards built along the east coast down from River Imjin. Many of the signs, however, have been damaged and removed for the last 50 years due to poor management and floods. MDL is not a barbed wire as we imagine, but changes as time goes by.

▷MDL and DMZ are byproducts of the ceasefire agreement signed on July 27 1953. During the negotiations, North Koreans demanded that the 38 degrees should be the demarcation line, while the U.N. delegation insisted upon the Line of Contact. The two sides finally reached an agreement after sometime confrontation – the demilitarized zone was divided in half with 2km set for each, instead of sprawling wide through 38.4km, as demanded by the North, while the line was set around the Line of Contact as proposed by the U.N. delegation. For ten hours before the treaty took effect after the signing ceremony, however, the two sides exchanged heavy artilleries as they wanted to push the line back to the enemy`s side.

▷As times went by, kinds of people passing across the line have also changed. In the 1960s when the two sides confronted each other face-to-face, armed North Korean operators like Kim Sin-jo sneaked into the south across the line. Crews of the Pueblo, U.S. ship seized by the North, were released and sent to the south through the demarcation line. During the 1960s and 1970s, a group of North Korean fishermen, who were sent back to the north after found being lost on the southern sea, performed a strip show right after they crossed the line by throwing away clothes and presents they got from southern compatriots. The return of Minister Mun Ik-hwan and Im Su-gyeong from North Korea through the demilitarized zone caught the spotlight.

▷Military authorities from the two Koreas signed two days ago an agreement on civilian traveling through the MDL, clearing the first obstacle to inter-Korean programs such as connection of the railroad, setup of an industrial complex in Gaeseong and inland travel to Mt. Geumgang. It is just a first step towards reconciliation, however. We wish the day when South and North Koreans travel freely across the border will come soon. For the day to come, we must resolve the problem centering on North`s nuclear program. The two Koreas will never be able to build trust as long as North Koreans extend one hand for handshaking with the other holding a weapon.

Song Mun-hong, Editorial Writer, songmh@donga.com