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DMZ Peace Trail in Cheorwon
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Section in Goseong County already opened on Apr. 27
As of June 1, civilians will be able to visit a stretch of the DMZ Peace Trail in Cheorwon County. This is the second section of the trail to be opened, following a section in Goseong County. “The section of the DMZ Peace Trail in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, will open on June 1. The Goseong section was the first part of the trail to open, on Apr. 27, and this new stretch will include the first non-permanent guard post in the DMZ to be made accessible to civilians,” the South Korean government announced on May 20. The Cheorwon stretch of the DMZ Peace Trail consists of a drive from White Horse Hill Memorial to Gate A; a 3.5km walk along the barbed wire fence on the southern side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) to Gate B, from which Arrowhead Hill can be seen; a drive to a non-permanent guard post; and then a return to the starting point at White Horse Hill Memorial. One of the highlights of the Cheorwon trail is that civilians can access a point from which they can get a view of Hwasalmeori (Arrowhead) Hill. This hill was the site of fierce fighting during the Korean War, and currently recovery efforts are underway there to exhume the remains of soldiers in accordance with an inter-Korean military agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018. While South and North Korea had originally planned to recover the remains together, North Korea has been unresponsive, prompting the South Korean military to initiate exhumation efforts on its own. Hikers on the trail can also explore a guard post that was completely demilitarized as part of the inter-Korean military agreement. This is the first non-permanent guard post to have been opened to civilians since the division of the Korean Peninsula. Officials began accepting visitation applications for the trail on May 20. Interested hikers can apply on Durunubi (www.durunubi.kr), a hiking website maintained by the Korea Tourism Organization, or DMZIGI (www.dmz.go.kr), a website providing comprehensive information about the DMZ that is operated by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. By Noh Ji-won, staff reporter Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
