The Unification Ministry is set to resume tours of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, 18 months after suspending the program for safety reasons. 

A ministry official said Thursday that the program will resume Friday with a special tour for people enrolled in a unification policy leadership course at the National Institute for Unification Education. 

Friday’s 17 visitors are government officials and executives from state-run firms. 

The government halted the Panmunjom tours in July 2023 after U.S. army Pvt. Travis King crossed the border into North Korea. 

Some additional tours took place in November of that year, but the program was fully suspended a week later. 

Since then foreign nationals have been allowed to visit Panmunjom, but tours have not taken place on a regular basis and have remained off-limits to South Koreans.