Special tours to iconic JSA set to resume after four-month suspension

Panmunjom, Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone [YONHAP]

Special tours to the iconic Joint Security Area (JSA) at the inter-Korean border will be resumed after they were suspended for four months following a U.S. soldier’s attempted defection at the site in July, according to South Korea's Ministry of Unification on Tuesday.

A group of 20 ministerial policy advisers and North Korean defectors will visit the JSA on Wednesday on a special tour organized by the National Institute for Unification Education.

South and North Korean soldiers come face-to-face at the JSA, where the UN Command (UNC) and North Korea hold talks regarding the implementation of the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 Korean War.

The popular tourist destination symbolizes the tragic Cold War division of Korea.

The UNC responsible for security at the JSA, discontinued tour programs after U.S. Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King ran across the inter-Korean border at the JSA into North Korea in mid-July during a group tour.

The North Korean authorities brought King into custody but expelled him in September. The would-be defector was eventually transferred back into U.S. custody.

There are two types of tours to the JSA: special tours and general tours.

Special tours are organized by the government or government-affiliated organizations.

General tours are organized by a wider range of entities and are geared to the general public.

Even after King's attempted defection, the UNC did organize a special tour for non-Korean veterans of the Korean War in July to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the armistice.

However, no tours for Korean nationals have been given since Travis King’s border dash.

The ministry said on Nov. 7 that it was talking with the UNC about resuming tours to JSA.

Though an agreement to restart the tours has been reached, no date for their resumption has been announced.

Officials say that the ministry's Panmunjom Tourist Support Center receives around 20 daily calls inquiring when the tours will resume.

Some 50 to 60 percent of Korean visitors to the JSA went through special tours before the suspension.

Still, the UNC hesitates to resume general tours for unspecified random visitors.

Before King’s border dash, all Korean nationals could easily apply for a JSA tour through the Panmunjom Tourist Support Center's website.

The tour program was offered four times a week, six times a day, until Travis King fled to the North.

“Further discussion with the UNC is needed to resume general tours,” the ministry said, adding that Minister Kim Yung-ho proposed measures to consolidate bilateral cooperation, the resumption of tours to the JSA, during his visit to the UNC headquarters in Pyeongtaek on Monday.

“The discussion might be able to reach a forward-looking outcome as the chief of the UNC, Paul LaCamera, agreed on the need for the tour programs,” the ministry said.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]