Backgrounder: Inter-Korean summit venue Panmunjom symbol of confrontation, rapprochement

SEOUL, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Global media spotlight is being cast on Panmunjom, a venue for a third summit between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) that has symbolized confrontation between the divided Koreas and also rapprochement for the past decades.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un picked Panmunjom as their first tete-a-tete venue in an effort to turn the symbol of inter-Korean confrontation into a space for dialogue and peace.

The third-ever inter-Korean summit is scheduled for Friday. Panmunjom is around 50 km north of Seoul and about 150 km south of Pyongyang.

Panmunjom became a symbol of division on the Korean Peninsula as the Korean Armistice Agreement, which paused the 1950-53 Korean War, was signed there on July 27, 1953.

The building, where the signing actually took place, is currently preserved in the DPRK side inside the four-km-wide demilitarized zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas. The current Panmunjom is about 1 km away from the building.

The 800-meter-wide area, called a truce village, houses the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission meeting room and the UN Command Military Armistice Commission conference room, two blue pavilions sitting in the middle of it which the inter-Korean border precisely bisect.

Five other blue and grey pavilions lie next to the blue ones on the right and left sides, one half belonging to the DPRK and another half to South Korea.

The DPRK leader is forecast to cross the military demarcation line (MDL), marked only by a low cement slab spanning the entire Panmunjom area, on foot. Kim would become the first DPRK leader to step onto South Korea's soil since the Korean War ended in an armistice. The peninsula remains technically at war without signing any peace treaty.

Across a narrow road from the pavilions lies the Freedom House, a four-story building on the South Korean side of Panmunjom, where Red Cross liaison office, conference rooms, observatory and other facilities are located. On the opposite side of it sits Panmungak, a DPRK counterpart to the Freedom House.

The DPRK leader is expected to walk through the Freedom House to the Peace House, where the Moon-Kim summit is to be held. On the opposite side of it lies Tongilgak, a DPRK building which has been used as venue for dialogues between the two Koreas together with the Peace House.

Outside Panmunjom, it is filled with barbed-wire fences, tank traps, mines, guard posts and watchtowers along the DMZ, as well as hundreds of thousands of combat-ready troops and heavily armed military units.

Meanwhile, Panmunjom is a symbol of rapprochement and dialogue between the two Koreas. In 1971, the first-ever inter-Korean talks - a preparatory contact between the Red Crosses - were held at the border village.

Since then, a number of talks have been held in Panmunjom. Standing liaison offices were set up at the truce village, and a dedicated telephone line was installed inside it to communicate with each other.

Panmunjom was a gateway to inter-Korean exchange in the private sector. In June 1998, late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung went to the DPRK via the border village to deliver 50 truckloads of 500 heads of cattle to DPRK farmers. Later in the year, Chung brought 501 more heads to the DPRK.

Preparatory talks for the first-ever inter-Korean summit were held in Panmunjom. Then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung visited Pyongyang in June 2000 to meet then DPRK leader Kim Jong Il, father of the current leader.

Working-level and senior-level dialogues were also held in Panmunjom earlier this year to discuss preparations for the third summit.

According to the Blue House summit preparation committee of South Korea, more than half of the total 660 inter-Korean talks or so have been held in Panmunjom over the past decades. Enditem