The government will create a worldwide ecological peace park in the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

The Ministry of Environment and Gangwon Province announced the plan in a ceremony Friday in Cheolwon near the border with North Korea.

About 40-billion won will be invested over the next four years to create the park in the four-kilometer buffer zone between the two Koreas.

The government will carry out joint research with North Korea to examine the ecology in the DMZ. It will also request that UNESCO designate the area as a biosphere reserve by 2012.

As a project selected by the new administration, the government hopes for the now heavily fortified zone to become a worldwide tourist attraction.