South Korea Says to Reopen All 12 DMZ Peace Trails

(MENAFN) South Korea announced Wednesday that all 12 walking routes along the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula will reopen to the public this spring, offering civilians renewed access to one of the world's most closely watched borders.

The trails, collectively branded the DMZ Peace Trail, will operate from April 17 through Nov. 30, according to a news agency, citing an official statement from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Services will be briefly suspended in July and August to account for the intense summer heat, as well as during the harshest winter months, in line with the program's established seasonal schedule.

A Rare Window Into a Heavily Guarded Frontier
Winding through border cities and towns across Incheon, Gyeonggi, and Gangwon provinces, the 12 routes were first established in 2019 with a specific purpose: to grant South Korean citizens an uncommon opportunity to explore the ecological richness, cultural heritage, and layered historical significance of a frontier that remains among the most militarized on earth.

Seoul has signaled an expansion of the program this year, planning to increase both the number of available operating days and the total number of permitted participants — widening access for civilians eager to experience the area firsthand.

A Border Born of an Unfinished War
The DMZ itself stretches 250 kilometers (155 miles) in length and spans 4 kilometers (2.48 miles) in width. It has physically divided the Korean peninsula since the 1950–53 Korean War concluded not with a peace treaty, but an armistice — a ceasefire arrangement that left the two Koreas, technically speaking, still in a state of war more than seven decades later.

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