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President Moon Visits GP in DMZ... First Time As Republic of Korean President
Writer :
정책홍보담당관
Date :
2019-01-11
Hit :
446

The Blue House said, "The goal of President Moon’s visit is to express a wish for permanent peace on Korean Peninsula, as a way of checking the implementation of the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement"

First visit to a GP in DMZ by a Republic of Korean President … Moon visits 5th Infantry Division boot camp to encourage soldiers
Stressing the importance of security, President Moon said, “Inter-Korean relations will develop only when the nation’s security is guaranteed.”


GP1


On December 28th, President Moon Jae-in visited a guard post (GP) at Arrowhead Ridge in the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ). This area is the same place where the two Koreas agreed to carry out the joint excavation of war remains. Moon also visited the frontline boot camp belonging to the 5th Infantry Division to encourage the soldiers there.


This was the first-ever visit to a frontline GP in the DMZ carried out by a Republic of Korean President. While previous presidents had visited GOPs, none had ever visited a frontline GP. 

On Friday afternoon, President Moon visited a GP of the 5th Infantry Division at Arrowhead Ridge in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province. He laid a wreath and paid silent tribute at the monument for Arrowhead Ridge located outside the frontline GP after receiving a briefing from the 5th Infantry Division commander.

He then moved to the bunker inside the GP and checked various articles left by the fallen soldiers, such as water bottles, cartridges, mess tins, North Korean soldiers’ buckles and Mosin-Nagant rifle cartridge cases, discovered at Arrowhead Ridge. Expressing his sadness at the visit while holding a water bottle with a bullet hole that was one of the articles, he commented: “This shows how fierce the battle was at that time.”

President Moon then went to the elevated post of the GP and looked around the area, while listening to an explanation of its topography given by an official.  

The area was named Arrowhead Ridge because it looks like an arrowhead when viewed from above. This a Korean War battlefield on which many soldiers were killed and injured during two fierce battles that took place between the Republic of Korean Army’s 2nd Division and China’s 73rd Division from June 29th through July 11th, 1953, just before the armistice. 

The area is the same place where the two Koreas started the removal of landmines on October 1st, as preparatory efforts for the inter-Korean joint excavation of war remains inside the DMZ initiated under the ‘military agreement’ reached at Pyeongyang Summit last September. The two Koreas completed road connection at the Arrowhead Ridge area on November 22nd. It has been 14 years since the construction of Gyeongui Line railway in October 2003 and Donghae Line railway in December 2004. The inter-Korean joint excavation project will start in earnest next April.


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Earlier, President Moon visited the 5th Infantry Division boot camp and had a luncheon with some 200 soldiers including new conscripts. He encouraged the soldiers who were greeting the end of the year and stressed the need for a posture of unshakable readiness.  


“If our role was once to protect the lives and safety of our people by preventing enemy invasions, it now is to make peace by actively promoting reconciliation and cooperation with North Korea, and to make sure such peace will lead to the country’s economic development,” President Moon said to the soldiers.

“It is admirable that you are devoting the prime of your youth to our nation’s security, for the lives and safety of the Korean people and of your families. I hope you will take pride in doing so. The 5th Infantry Division in particular is at the very forefront of our security, and this will not change because of changes in inter-Korean relations,” he added. 

“Inter-Korean relations can only develop further when you continue to stand at the forefront of the defense of our security. Without the support of strong defense capabilities, (inter-Korean) dialogue or peace may become weak,” he added, repeatedly stressing the importance of national security.  

In addition, he explained the government’s efforts to support the welfare of soldiers in active duty, which have included a wage increase, shortened mandatory service period, expansion of going-out and sleeping-out privileges and permission to use a mobile phone. “The government will not ask for your unconditional loyalty to the country," he said.

An official with the Blue House added some context to the president’s inspection of the boot camp. “The goal of President Moon’s visit was to encourage the frontline soldiers and to show off our unshakable defense posture, both internally and externally. It can be seen as a way of checking the progress made so far in implementing the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement, to confirm the establishment of a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

 

 

 

By Joo-Hyeong, Lee < jataka@dema.mil.kr >

<Copyright ⓒ The Korea Defense Daily, All rights reserved>



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