Analysis: Heavily Armed DMZ In Korea

The shooting spree on June 19 occurred inside the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, which are technically in a state of war as their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

In the incident, a soldier, who was on guard duty at the frontier, tossed a hand grenade into a barracks full of sleeping colleagues before opening fire. Eight troops were killed and four wounded in the worst such incident in the army in 20 years.

The accused solider said he planned the crime after being bullied by senior comrades, military investigators say.

In the face of strong public criticism about the mismanagement of the armed forces and lack of military discipline, the army has decided to improve the environment of front-line guard posts and provide incentives for border guards.

In a news release Tuesday, the ministry said it would raise the wages for troops on duty at guard posts inside the DMZ as part of efforts to improve living conditions.

"The army is studying basic measures to prevent any recurrence of the incident and has begun working out measures to foster the early settlement of an advanced standard of living in the barracks," the statement said.

Many analysts and activists have, however, called for a withdrawal of the heavily armed guard posts from the DMZ, saying their existence violates the 1953 armistice.

Under the truce agreement, both North and South Korea are not allowed to bring machine guns or any other heavy arms into the DMZ. The truce also bans the stationing of more than 1,000 people from both sides inside the buffer area. But there are more than 100 guard posts that house over 10,000 soldiers from both sides, according to the U.N. Command that oversees the Korean armistice.

South Korea runs 80 guard posts inside the DMZ, many of them heavily armed to prepare for another invasion from the North. The North also maintains heavily armed military facilities inside the DMZ. In early 1996, the North finally proclaimed it would no longer abide by the armistice agreement and sent 100 troops armed with heavy weapons into the zone, a breach of the armistice.

"Many of the guard posts inside the DMZ are armed with machine guns and grenades. It violates the armistice agreement," said Park Jin, a lawmaker from the opposition Grand National Party.

"The guard posts should be pulled out of the DMZ," he said, calling for the Seoul government to use future military talks with the North to discuss joint withdrawals. Under an agreement at high-level talks last week, the two Koreas agreed to hold military talks to discuss tension reduction across the border.

The DMZ was created at the end of the Korean War as a buffer area to keep opposing armies apart and avoid accidental clashes. The DMZ is the world's most-heavily fortified zone as both sides have aggressively built up their forces within the buffer zone.

The 2.5-mile-wide, 156-mile-long DMZ is still dotted with mines, concrete walls, electric fences, bunkers and other military facilities, and has been the site of numerous infiltrations and violent confrontations over the decades.

Almost 2 million troops have been deployed from both sides. North Korea keeps 1.17 million soldiers, the world's fifth-largest force, to face off against 690,000 South Korean troops, who are augmented by 32,000 U.S. troops.

North Korea has deployed more than 10,000 artillery pieces, including 1,000 that are concealed in thousands of mountain tunnels near the DMZ, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry.

According to the U.N. Command, the two sides have committed more than 1.2 million violations of the truce agreement. In the latest confrontation, front-line soldiers from North and South Korea exchanged gunfire in the DMZ in 2003.

In a symbolic gesture of reconciliation after the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas recently opened two corridors in the DMZ for road and rail transport. But as the impasse over North Korea's nuclear program deepens, South Koreans are concerned a minor incident at the tense border could trigger a chain of events leading to a second war on the peninsula.

"Guard posts inside the DMZ are not necessary at a time when the two Koreas are pushing for cross-border cooperation and reconciliation," Lee Chul-ki, a security expert at Dongguk University.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said it has planned to deploy gun-wielding robots along the border as early as 2007 as part of revamped security measures to deter North Korean infiltration. The robots will replace tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers by 2011.

The military will also install sensor-activated electronic alarm systems and computerized surveillance cameras, including remotely monitored battlefield sensor systems and closed circuit televisions. The cost of installing the system is estimated at some $19.6 billion, the ministry said.

By SpaceWar