The government and the ruling Democratic Party(DP) on Thursday agreed to lift or ease development restrictions on 14 military facility protection zones near the border with North Korea.

Rep. Cho Jung-sik, the ruling party's chief policymaker, said that the ruling bloc reached the agreement in a meeting at the National Assembly.

Cho said regulations will be lifted for zones covering 77 million square meters categorized as protected areas for their close proximity to military facilities.

The lawmaker said that 79 percent of the areas are located in Gangwon Province and 19 percent are in Gyeonggi Province, adding the deregulation will apply first to the areas near the border where military facilities are concentrated. 

The zones subject to the deregulation include areas in Incheon, Chungju in North Chungcheong Province and Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province as well.