The Panmunjom tour, which was resumed after being suspended due to a U.S. soldier's unauthorized defection to North Korea, has been halted again as military tensions escalated following the suspension of the 'September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement.'
According to the Ministry of Unification on the 30th, the National Unification Education Institute recently decided to effectively suspend the Panmunjom special tour program that had resumed on the 22nd. The date for resumption has not been set.
A visit to Panmunjom by Minister of Unification Kim Young-ho and the press was scheduled during the special tour on the 5th of next month. Earlier, the Ministry of Unification had resumed the Panmunjom tours on the 22nd of this month only for special tours organized by government agencies, after the tours were suspended in July due to the unauthorized defection of a U.S. soldier to North Korea. The Ministry planned to operate the special tour program four days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday), three times a day, with a capacity of 20 people per session.
However, as North Korea declared a complete annulment in response to the government's suspension of part of the September 19 military agreement and armed Panmunjom personnel, the government appears to have decided to effectively suspend the tours again, considering public safety.
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