Within the DMZ is a meeting point between the two Korean states, where negotiations take place: the small Joint Security Area (JSA) near the western end of the zone.

[3] The 38th parallel north—which divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half—was the original boundary between the United States and Soviet Union's brief administration areas of Korea at the end of World War II.

In 1998, South Korea built a new Freedom House for its Red Cross staff and to possibly host reunions of families separated by the Korean War.

The axe murder incident in August 1976 involved the attempted trimming of a tree which resulted in two deaths (Captain Arthur Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark Barrett).

Another incident occurred on 23 November 1984, when a Soviet tourist named Vasily Matuzok (sometimes spelled Matusak), who was part of an official trip to the JSA (hosted by the North), ran across the MDL shouting that he wanted to defect to the South.

Matuzok survived and was eventually resettled in the U.S.[11] In late 2009, South Korean forces in conjunction with the United Nations Command began renovation of its three guard posts and two checkpoint buildings within the JSA compound.

The North Korean government responded by building the 160 m (525 ft) Panmunjeom flagpole in Kijŏng-dong, only 1.2 km (0.7 mi) west of the border with South Korea.

[36][37] From the armistice until 1972, approximately 7,700 South Korean soldiers and agents infiltrated into North Korea in order to sabotage military bases and industrial areas.

[39] Experts believe that 60 percent of its total artillery is positioned within a few kilometers of the DMZ acting as a deterrent against any South Korean invasion.

[58] In 2024, as a response to continuing leaflets from South Korean activists, the North flew around 1,000 balloons filled with cigarette butts, manure, waste batteries, scraps of cloth, and dirty diapers over the border.

In response, South Korean activists released helium balloons with anti-Pyongyang leaflets and USB sticks with K-dramas and world news into North Korea.

[59][2] The actions of North Korea resulted in a June 2024 decision by the South to suspend the above deal and resume military drills near the border.

Its purpose is to limit and control the entrance of civilians into the area in order to protect and maintain the security of military facilities and operations near the DMZ.

The South Korean government ordered the construction of the Ara Canal to finally connect Seoul to the Yellow Sea, which was completed in 2012.

Both North and South Korea's roads end in the JSA; the highways do not quite join as there is a 20 cm (8 in) concrete line that divides the entire site.

More than one million civilian visitors crossed the DMZ until the route was closed following the shooting of a 53-year-old South Korean tourist in July 2008.

[76] On 14 October 2018, North and South Korea, agreed to meet the summit's goal of restoring railway and road transportation, which had been cut since the Korean War, by either late November or early December 2018.

[85][86] This natural isolation along the 250 km (160 mi) length of the DMZ has created an involuntary park which is now recognized as one of the most well-preserved areas of temperate habitat in the world.

Environmentalists hope that the DMZ will be conserved as a wildlife refuge, with a well-developed set of objective and management plans vetted and in place.

In 2005, CNN founder and media mogul Ted Turner, on a visit to North Korea, said that he would financially support any plans to turn the DMZ into a peace park and a UN-protected World Heritage Site.

Pyongyang expressed its opposition by sending letters to 32 council member countries, except for South Korea, and the UNESCO headquarters a month prior to the meeting.

There, they began implementing new protocols which aim to reduce tension by requiring both North and South Korea to destroy 22 guard posts across the DMZ,[100] among other steps.

[105] In tandem with the September 2018 Pyongyang and Military Domain Agreements,[104][105][106] both sides also agreed to gradually remove all guard posts near the DMZ following verification in December 2018.

[107][108][109][110] On 4 November 2018, the North and South Korean governments hoisted a yellow flag above each of their 11 DMZ guard posts to publicly indicate that they all will be dismantled.

[80] The "frontline" guard post which was preserved on the North Korean side of the DMZ was visited by Kim Jong-un in 2013 when tensions were rising between both Koreas.

[119] In compliance with the Comprehensive Military Agreement which was signed at the September 2018 inter-Korean summit,[120] the buffer zone helps ensure that both North and South Korea will effectively ban hostility on land, air, and sea.

[119] Both Koreas are prohibited from conducting live-fire artillery drills and regiment-level field maneuvering exercises or those by bigger units within 5 kilometers of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).

[79] The road was reconnected for the first time in 14 years in an effort to assist with a process at the DMZ's Arrowhead Hill involving the removal of landmines and exhumation of Korean War remains.

[121][122][123] On 1 October 2018, North and South Korean military engineers began a scheduled 20 day removal process of landmines and other explosives planted across the JSA.

[118][131] On 12 December 2018, militaries from both Koreas crossed the DMZ's MDL into the opposition countries for the first time in history to inspect and verify the removal of "frontline" guard posts.