page_title: Korean Demilitarized Zone
section_title: Transportation
hierarchical_section_title: Korean Demilitarized Zone / Transportation
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Military Demarcation Line sign on the south side of the Bridge of No Return. U.S. Army official Korean Demilitarized Zone image archive
context_page_description: The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a piece of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula almost in half, crossing the 38th parallel. The west end of the DMZ is south of the parallel and the east end is to the north of it. It is 250 kilometres long, and about 4 km wide and is the most highly militarized border in the world. The border between both Koreas in the Yellow Sea and its coastline is known as the Northern Limit Line. Both sides of the Northern Limit Line are also heavily guarded.
context_section_description: Panmunjeom is the site where the negotiations that ended the Korean War took place.  It is the main centre of human activity in the DMZ today.  The village is located on the main highway and near a railroad connecting the two Koreas.
  The railway, which connects Seoul and Pyongyang, was called the Gyeongui Line before Korea was divided in the 1940s.  Currently the South uses the original name, but the North refers to the route as the P'yŏngbu Line. Today, the railway is mainly used to carry materials to the industrial complexes at Kaesong. South Korea workers also use it to commute there. When it was reopened in the early 2000s, this was seen as a sign that the relations between both countries were improving. However in November 2008 North Korean authorities closed the railway because of growing tensions with the South. When former South-Korean president Kim Dae-jung had died, a delegation from North Korea also attended his funeral. On that occasion, talks were held with South Korean officials. In September 2009, the Kaesong rail and road crossings were reopened.
  The road at Panmunjeom, which was known historically as Highway One in the South, was originally the only access point between the two countries on the Korean Peninsula. Passage is comparable to the strict movements that occurred at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin at the height of the Cold War. Both North and South Korea's roads end in the Joint Security Area; neither highway meets because there is a 20-centimetre (8-inch) concrete line that divides the entire site. People given the permission to cross this border must do so on foot before continuing their journey by road.
  In 2007, on the east coast of Korea, the first train crossed the DMZ on the new Donghae Bukbu (Tonghae Pukpu) Line. The new rail crossing was built next to the road which took South Koreans to Kŭmgangsan, a region that has significant cultural importance for all Koreans. More than one million civilian visitors crossed the DMZ until the route was closed after a 53-year-old South Korean tourist was shot in July 2008. The North Korean government did not want that both police forces investigate the shooting together, so the South Korean government stopped offering tours to the resort. Since then the resort, and the Donghae Bukbu Line have effectively been closed by the North.
caption: Military Demarcation Line marker on the South Korean side of the Bridge of No Return.
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