Demilitarized Zone (Korea)

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is the buffer area created by the Korean Armistice Agreement signed on 27 July 1953 at Panmunjom, which halted active fighting in the Korean War. The zone runs approximately 250 kilometers across the peninsula, extending about 2 kilometers on either side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) — the ceasefire line where the opposing forces stood at the moment of the armistice. It roughly follows, but does not coincide with, the 38th parallel.

The armistice was signed by the Korean People's Army, the Chinese People's Volunteers, and the United Nations Command. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) did not sign. Because no peace treaty has ever been concluded, the two Koreas remain technically at war, and the DMZ functions as the world's most heavily fortified border despite its name.

Key features include:

• The Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, the only point where forces from both sides stand face-to-face and where inter-Korean talks are typically held.
• The Military Armistice Commission and the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (originally Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia), created to oversee the truce.
• A network of South Korean tunnels discovered from the 1970s onward, attributed to North Korean infiltration efforts.

The DMZ has been the site of repeated incidents, including the 1968 Blue House raid, the 1976 axe murder incident, and periodic exchanges of fire. It has also hosted diplomatic milestones, such as the 27 April 2018 Panmunjom Declaration signed by Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, and the 30 June 2019 meeting between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, the first time a sitting US president stepped into North Korea.

Paradoxically, decades of restricted human access have made the strip a de facto wildlife refuge, home to endangered species such as the red-crowned crane.