Demining the so-called demilitarized zone between the DPRK and South Korea will require huge investments and will take about two centuries. And this is on condition that all the engineering units of South Koreans will be involved in the work. This was reported to the journalists of the KBS radio station by a representative of the land forces of this country.
The military also pointed out the need to create a special center to deal with the problem of demining in the demilitarized zone.
Recently, another period of warming of relations between the North and the South has been observed on the Korean Peninsula. It began after the historic meeting between the American President Trump and the DPRK leader Kim Jong-un. The first visit in ten years for the head of South Korea to Pyongyang is being prepared. The world community cautiously hopes that this time it will be possible to establish a long-term dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang, and, finally, to end the long-standing conflict.
Two centuries of demining: why so long?
The Korean War was one of the bloodiest in the twentieth century. It is estimated that about 4.5 million people died in this conflict. Officially, it has not stopped yet, because the peace treaty between the warring parties has not been signed. The slaughter ended with the formation of two new states, and the division of the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel. A demilitarized zone 4 km wide and 241 km long was created on it.
For decades, both sides of the conflict were engaged in strengthening their positions: they built walls, built fortifications, braided 38th parallel with kilometers of barbed wire, dug special tunnels for troops. And yet, fearing the sudden onset of the enemy, they installed millions of mines of various systems and structures, anti-tank and anti-personnel. If the countries really take the course for a long-term peaceful existence (and in the long term - for unification), the mines will turn into a very serious problem.
According to various experts, since the end of the Korean War to this day, more than two million anti-personnel and anti-tank mines have been laid on the border between the two states. But that is not all. This problem is aggravated by the fact that the maps of early minefields have long been lost. Soil shifts, rains, floods led to the displacement of these deadly devices, so no one can indicate the exact location of most of them. If the decision to liquidate the demilitarized zone is nevertheless made, then the sappers will have to do a lot of work: they will have to literally check the entire area of this territory centimeter by centimeter. And it takes thousands of square kilometers.
According to a source of journalists, with the current level of technology, this process may take about two hundred years.
Recall that a few days ago, the date of the third summit between South Korea and the DPRK was agreed. It will be held from September 18 to September 20, and the South Korean head will visit Pyongyang for the first time in ten years. Kim Jong-un confirmed his position on the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the spring of this year, the leaders of the two countries agreed on nuclear disarmament. And recently, the leader of North Korea expressed the hope that by 2021 the situation on the peninsula could be resolved, as well as the speedy normalization of relations with the United States. Such news gives hope that peace will finally come to the Korean Peninsula after long decades of confrontation.
