Park made the proposal to make part of the buffer zone a peace zone in a speech she delivered at the U.S. Congress during her visit to Washington in May. But it remains to be seen whether Park's plan will be realized as tensions persist on the Korean Peninsula.
Of the money, 24 billion won would be used to remove mines in inter-Korean border areas and the rest would be for R&D activities, according to the 2014 budget plan to be submitted to the National Assembly by Oct. 2 for approval.
Park renewed her proposal to establish a peace park in the heavily-fortified DMZ in her Liberation Day speech on Aug. 15, calling the DMZ a "legacy of division and confrontation between the two Koreas."
"By turning the DMZ into a peace zone. I hope that our memories of war and threats of provocations that linger in our minds will be removed and that efforts to make the Korean Peninsula a land of trust, harmony and collaboration will be newly made," she said.
The DMZ, which is four kilometers wide and 250 kilometers long, is a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas remain technically at war as the Korean War ended in an armistice agreement, not a peace treaty.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com