The project is aiming to clear all mines out of the JSA within 20 days, guard posts and personnel are to be removed as well with the ultimate goal of disarming the area entirely within a month.

On Monday, North and South Korea began the process of removing mines from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which has separated the two Koreas since 1953. The demining project was agreed to in a summit last month and has begun in an area known as the Joint Security Area (JSA), also known as Panmunjom.

The DMZ was created in an Armistice Agreement and established a 2.5 mile wide buffer zone between the two countries when both sides agreed to move their troops 2,200 yards back from the front line. Over the years there have been occasional confrontations, discoveries of tunnels under the zone and various forms of propaganda campaigns targeting the opposing country.

After talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last September that both sides had agreed to “remove all threats that could possibly cause war on the Korean Peninsula.”

The demining campaign is also occurring in an area east of the JSA where both North and South Korea are planning to excavate Korean War remains.

The project is aiming to clear all mines out of the JSA within 20 days, guard posts and personnel are to be removed as well with the ultimate goal of disarming the area entirely within a month.

The United Nations Command which oversees the DMZ and is headed by the U.S. has refrained from fully endorsing the demining project. Some are concerned that the project will detract from any progress towards denuclearizing North Korea.

Both Koreas also agreed to a no-fly zone over the border, taking effect in November. Helicopters will be barred from flying within 10 km of the border, fixed-wing aircraft are barred from 40 km of the border in the east and 20 km in the west. Unmanned aircraft are additionally barred from getting within 10 to 15 km of the border.

Also beginning November, military exercises in the border zone are called off and each country will remove 11 border observation posts within the year. A bilateral military committee is part of the agreement as well and will work to discuss stopping large-scale military drills, arms proliferation and spying activities