South Korea to Resume Work on Robot Project at DMZ by 2026

• South Korea plans to resume work on a robot project on the Gyeongwon Line railway at the DMZ, with the aim of completing it by South Korea’s 2026.
• The project began in 2015 with private funding; the work was suspended after the South Korean government decided to freeze the inter-Korean cooperation on the Korean Peninsula until 2024.
• The plan also involves the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, which since 2016 has been funding the program through grants worth 2–3% of the fund’s budget.

South Korea plans to resume work on a robot project along the inter-Korean border line on the Gyeongwon Line at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), according to a statement from the Ministry of Unification of South Korea. The project, which started in 2015, was put on hold in the year of the government’s decision, and the government said it would resume it by 2024.

In a written response, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said that the current government’s decision on the “robot project” is intended to resume activities in the form of a visit to the DMZ by a robot, and that the Ministry is considering the possibility of resuming the project.

In its materials, the ministry said that South Korea’s plan is to resume the robot project on the Korean Peninsula, which it described as a “world tourism” initiative between the two Koreas. The ministry said it would resume the project in 2024, citing the need to maintain the possibility of the robot project’s continuation.

In the meantime, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said that the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund would support the robot project with government funding. According to the ministry, the fund has been providing grants for the project since 2016 and that the program’s funding amounts to 2–3% of the fund’s budget.

The fund, according to the ministry, will finance the robot project via the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, which is intended to support inter-Korean cooperation initiatives. The ministry said that it will follow the relevant procedures and standards for the use of the fund’s resources.

Parliamentary opposition lawmakers in South Korea said that the government’s decision to resume the robot project may be linked to the “world tourism” campaign and that the project could be used to promote the government’s policy. They said that the government’s decision lacks transparency.

Tags: Middle East/Politics/Economy