North Korea, South Korea, and the United Nations Command (UNC) met on Monday to further discuss plans to disarm the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). This follows demining efforts in the area that wrapped up last week in accordance with last month’s inter-Korean summit agreement. The developments have garnered a lot of interest and hope for improved relations among North Korean residents.
“Residents have been told about the railroad project and the ongoing demining work through public lectures. It is welcome news for North Koreans, most of whom are surprised to see both sides upholding their end of the bargain,” a source in Pyongyang told Daily NK.
“We’ve all seen various meetings and summits throughout our 70-year division and it never felt like there was a way out. Now things feel different. I never imagined we could stop bickering and change like this.”
The thrust of the demining work in the DMZ is to facilitate the safe discovery and return of remains of soldiers killed during the Korean War. However, for many North Koreans, their removal is seen in more practical terms, tearing down an impediment to exchange and collaboration with the South.
“It seems like residents could go back and forth if the mines are removed along the 38th Parallel. A lot of people think that if the General (Kim Jong Un) visits Seoul, he’ll follow this newly cleared route and then goods will start passing through soon after,” a source in South Pyongan Province said.
He noted that North Koreans are well aware of the prosperity their rich southern neighbor enjoys and are eager to see bonafide exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas give way to new business opportunities.
However, additional sources in Pyongyang report that the authorities are working hard to temper public expectations concerning greater interactions with South Korea.
“There have been lectures and propaganda about the results of the inter-Korean summits but most have focused on telling everyone to invest all their energy in the fall mobilizations in order to ‘create our-style of socialism that is right for our economy and blast through difficulties wrought by sanctions’,” a Pyongyang-based source explained.
“They are emphasizing that an inter-Korean relationship won’t happen overnight, and that we must proudly fulfill our-style socialist revolution.”
