Registration for the 11 themed tours of the DMZ Road of Peace will begin from Aug. 23. Shown is Dutayeon Valley, which is part of the Yanggu-gun County tour. (Yanggu-gun County) 

By Jung Joo-ri

Themed tours of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Road of Peace around the inter-Korean border will be launched next month.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Aug. 18 said registration for the 11 tours of the area will begin from Aug. 23.

Ten local governments near the DMZ are participating in the tours: the cities of Gimpo, Goyang and Paju and Yeoncheon County in Gyeonggi-do Province and the counties of Ganghwa-gun in Incheon and Cheorwon-gun, Hwacheon-gun, Yanggu-gun, Inje-gun and Goseong-gun in Gangwon-do Province. 

All of the routes have sections in which military bases assist with the vehicles carrying tourists to ensure tourist safety and protect wild animals and plants.

For those who prefer touring on foot, the Gimpo course requires the most walking. It takes five hours to finish the 62.8-km course comprising a 4.8-km walk and 58-km vehicle tour. Tourists can walk on the barbed wire path in the village of Siam-ri.

Those who want to tour by car can go on the Hwacheon course. Four hours are needed to complete the 114.4-km course, the longest of the 11 tours, comprising 5.4 km on foot and 109 km on a vehicle. The attractions on this tour include World Peace Bell Park and Peace Dam.

The DMZ Road of Peace is designed to transform the border area and vicinity, which retains the scars of war and pain of national division, into an area of peace and coexistence. The project has themed and crossing courses.

The latter courses will be opened next year and cover 524 km of the DMZ area from Ganghwa-gun in Incheon to Goseong-gun in Gangwon-do, and tourists can walk and learn more about the ecosystem, culture and history of the inter-Korean border. 

To register for the tours, apply from Aug. 23 on the homepage of the DMZ Road of Peace (www.dmzwalk.com) run by the Korea Tourism Organization. Check the desired tour on the site as each will have varying opening periods, operating days and departure times. 

The fee is KRW 10,000 per participant to prevent cancellations without notice, with tourists to receive a gift certificate or a monetary voucher or product from the region toured in return.

etoilejr@korea.kr