THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE, Korea — Ten tourists paused to stare at more than 70 reporters one recent morning before heading into one of the few places in Panmunjom — or in the world — where people from both Koreas can stand.

The tourists walked from North Korea into a meeting room that joins the two countries in the armistice village. The reporters, who were on the southern side, waited their turn.

The two groups exchanged camera flashes and curious looks but no words, even though they stood only a few yards apart. Military guards from both countries stood even closer to each other while one of the North Korean guards scanned the southern crowd with binoculars.

Tourist standoffs like this happen often in the Joint Security Area, where the ceremony and politics of the 51-year-old Korean War truce play out intensely, but routinely.

Yet in a nearby part of the Demilitarized Zone that same morning, 110 South Koreans crossed the border to stay overnight for a few days. More than a dozen trucks and vehicles carrying fuel, construction equipment and kitchen supplies went as well, traveling along the newly built Western Transportation Corridor.

The 9:30 a.m. convoy was the second that day, part of an effort to open factories and create jobs in North Korea’s Kaesong Industrial Park. Fifteen South Korean-sponsored companies are setting up shop in the communist country to make car parts, watches, shoes, telecommunications equipment, metal parts and other goods.

It’s those convoys, along with the ongoing protocol needed to keep the peace along the 2½-mile border, that have helped spur the decision to move the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission’s headquarters back to the DMZ.

“The UNCMAC, which has been based in Seoul, now will move to Panmunjom and set up permanent residency there,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Kane, the commission’s senior U.S. member, during a news briefing last week.

The 1953 armistice established the commission to concentrate on unifying the two countries. In the late 1950s, the command moved its headquarters to Seoul to take advantage of the larger, developing city.

Five decades later, developing a dialogue between North and South is still UNCMAC’s goal, said U.S. Army Col. Kevin W. Madden.

“We started moving up folks in September, and it’s been in the plans for about two or three years,” Madden said. “Gen. (Leon) LaPorte felt we needed to move forward to better support our mission.”

LaPorte, head of U.S. Forces Korea, also heads the U.N. Command.

The mission can mean a variety of work for officers like Madden. The command helps recover remains of soldiers still in North Korea. It plays a role in investigating breaches in the DMZ, such as the three fence holes found on the border last month.

The command also works with the Ministry of Unification to monitor the convoys going both ways along the two new corridors built specifically for easier but controlled movement between the countries.

“We have always, always validated crossings of the DMZ, because that’s the Armistice mission,” said Madden.

“The United Nations Command’s fondest wish is that the Kaesong Industrial Complex project is a rousing success, because that will mean that North Korea, at least in one area, is starting to make some fundamental changes.”

Madden can speak firsthand about the living conditions for some North Koreans. Three years ago, he spent a month in Pyongyang working on recovery of causalities from the Korean War.

“When you go into the countryside, it’s very sad,” he said. “People are filthy. They don’t have water to wash. People are obviously hungry. People are very skinny. And what I observed was that the [Korean People’s Army] were very indifferent to the suffering of the people.”

Officials like Madden hope the Western and Eastern corridors will bring more opportunities for North Koreans. The Western road opened last summer and already 400,000 metric tons of rice has crossed the border, Kane said. In the last three months, there were about 100 crossings carrying about 1,500 people per month.

Construction on the Eastern corridor will be finished at the end of the month, but it has seen about 150 crossings in the past three months. The Seoul-Sinuiji Railway also is complete, but has yet to transport any goods, Kane said.

UNCMAC always had an office at Panmunjom. But that will be expanded during the next year to house 21 people, Madden said. Another five people will work at the Eastern corridor and four will remain in Seoul, he said.

Madden also said there was no direct connection between the command’s move north and U.S. plans to scale back troops in Korea and reposition the remaining servicemembers further from the DMZ.

The best move toward better relations on the peninsula and for the success of the Kaesong project, Madden said, would involve North Korea scaling back its military muscle.

“If that kind of tension’s reduced, for example, there are a lot of other countries that would be willing to invest in North Korea instead of just letting South Korea carry the weight,” he said.

For now, however, officials on both sides are moving slowly and waiting to see how the Kaesong project progresses.

“Economic initiatives are great,” Madden said. “But at the end of the day, there’s a large military standoff at the Demilitarized Zone.”

Hwang Hae-rym contributed to this report.

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