![North Korean soldiers conducting quarry work on the eastern front. [Photo: Joint Chiefs of Staff]](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2025/11/17/20251117170145661830.jpg)
SEOUL, November 17 (AJP) - South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has formally proposed talks with North Korea to establish a clear baseline for the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), in what would be the first military dialogue between the two sides since 2018.
Kim Hong-chul, director of the ministry’s Defense Policy Office, said Monday that North Korean troops have repeatedly crossed the MDL while constructing tactical roads, laying fences and planting mines inside the Demilitarized Zone. The activity, he warned, has heightened tensions and increased the risk of unintended clashes.
“This situation raises the possibility of accidental military conflict,” Kim said, urging the North to accept talks aimed at reducing tensions and preventing miscalculations.
Seoul has proposed that the discussions take place through the inter-Korean liaison channel at Panmunjeom, with the timing and precise format to be arranged if Pyongyang agrees.
Kim noted that the current disputes over the boundary stem from the deterioration and loss of many original MDL markers installed after the 1953 armistice, leaving both sides with differing views of the line’s exact location.
A defense ministry official said the markers were placed under the supervision of the Military Armistice Commission in August 1953, but maintenance effectively ceased in 1973 after North Korean forces opened fire on UN Command personnel performing repairs.
* This article, published by Aju Business Daily, was translated by AI and edited by AJP.
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