Korean Demilitarized Zone

Korean Demilitarized Zone
한반도 비무장 지대
Korean Peninsula
View of the North from the southern side of the Joint Security Area
The Korean DMZ denoted by the red highlighted area. The blue line indicates the international border. The four incursion tunnels are also shown.
Type	DMZ
Length	250 km (160 mi)
Site information
Open to the public	No access; access only granted by North Korea or United Nations Command.
Condition	Fully manned and operational
Site history
Built by	China  United States  North Korea  South Korea United Nations Command
In use	since 27 July 1953 (1953-07-27) (70 years ago)
Events	Division of Korea
Korean name
Hangul	한반도 비무장 지대
Hanja	韓半島非武裝地帶
Revised Romanization	Hanbando Bimujang jidae
McCune–Reischauer	Hanbando Pimujang chidae

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: 한반도 비무장 지대) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in half. It was established to serve as a buffer zone between the countries of North Korea and South Korea under the provisions of the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, an agreement between North Korea, China, and the United Nations Command.

The DMZ is 250 kilometers (160 mi) long and about 4 kilometers (2.5 mi) wide. There have been various incidents in and around the DMZ, with military and civilian casualties on both sides. Within the DMZ is a meeting point between the two nations, where negotiations take place: the small Joint Security Area (JSA) near the western end of the zone.