North Korean missiles precede Hegseth’s visit to the forbidden zone

The sounds of artillery in North Korea never fall silent, especially when global diplomatic footsteps reach the “forbidden land.”

Earlier this week, coinciding with the joint visit of the South Korean and U.S. defense ministers to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, Pyongyang fired about ten artillery shells from its multiple rocket launch system.

This was announced on Tuesday by the South Korean military, according to the Yonhap news agency.

According to the report, the rockets were launched toward waters off the northern part of the Yellow Sea around 4 p.m. on Monday.

The launch took place less than an hour before U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at Camp Bonifas, located just south of the Joint Security Area within the DMZ, for a joint visit to the tense border alongside his South Korean counterpart, Ahn Kyu-baek.

What do we know about the Demilitarized Zone?

The DMZ is a restricted area located about 30 miles north of Seoul. It was established under the Korean War Armistice Agreement in 1953.

The demilitarized zone is not only a politically strategic area but also a popular tourist attraction.

It stretches two kilometers wide, extending from coast to coast across the peninsula, with both sides maintaining barbed wire fences, heavy weapons, and anti-tank traps along the boundary.

Within the Joint Security Area, which measures about 800 meters wide and 400 meters long, lies the village of Panmunjom—known as the “peace village”—where the armistice was signed in 1953.

Panmunjom consists of several buildings painted in bright blue. Both Koreas maintain liaison offices and meeting halls on their respective sides of the demarcation line.

For more than sixty years, large portions of the DMZ have remained off-limits, allowing wildlife to flourish undisturbed. In other areas, military facilities and tourist landmarks coexist.

More missile launches

Separately, North Korea also fired ten more artillery shells around 3 p.m. on Saturday, during a summit between President Lee Jae-myung and his Chinese

counterpart Xi Jinping in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, held in conjunction with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.

In October, Pyongyang had launched several short-range ballistic missiles about a week before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Seoul for the APEC summit.