The South Korean military is expected to begin restoring a frontline guard post in Goseong, Gangwon Province that has sat vacant under the 2018 inter-Korean military agreement.

According to multiple government sources on Wednesday, the military plans to first restore the in-tact post as it only requires the deployment of troops and equipment and is in a strategically important location in the northernmost part of the eastern front.

The decision follows North Korea’s declaration that it is terminating the 2018 agreement last Thursday, a day after the South suspended the no-fly zone portion of the deal in response to Pyongyang's launch of a military reconnaissance satellite.

The distance between the Goseong guard post and the North’s nearest station is only 580 meters, the shortest distance between the two nations’ positions.

Seoul is expected to decide on the restoration of the other ten posts that were destroyed in accordance with the 2018 deal as a countermeasure to Pyongyang's ongoing rebuilding efforts.

Under the inter-Korean deal, the two sides each destroyed ten outposts within the Demilitarized Zone while withdrawing from one, leaving around 50 in the South and 150 in the North.

[Photo : YONHAP News]