Panmunjom, also known as the Joint Security Area (JSA), straddles the two Koreas and is the only place in the DMZ where South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. It was a venue of discussions for peace during the Korean War and where the Armistice Agreement was signed, and it has since served as a location for high-profile negotiations between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war as no peace treaty was ever signed.

But it has also been ground zero for bloody clashes and high-profile defections, including an attack in 1976 by ax-wielding North Korean soldiers who killed two American service personnel trying to prune a tree there. Under the agreement between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in April last year, however, Seoul and Pyongyang vowed to transform the DMZ into a “peace zone in a genuine sense” by ceasing all hostile acts against each other in and around the area.

Then, in accordance with the comprehensive military agreement signed in September, the two Koreas demilitarized the JSA by disarming soldiers, removing landmines and locking and sealing a total of nine guard posts (GPs). Inside the DMZ, the two Koreas last year demolished 10 GPs each, with a further one per side disarmed and kept intact for its historic value. They also vowed to push for consultations to remove all DMZ GPs. Seoul and Pyongyang have agreed to push to allow visitors to move freely around both sides of the JSA across the demarcation line running through the zone, but the plan has been delayed as the two Koreas and the United Nations Command (UNC) have not reached an agreement on a joint code of conduct for such a measure.

The UNC administers all activities inside the DMZ, but North Korea has reportedly demanded that it be excluded from the management of the JSA.  Before heading to the JSA for the meeting with Kim, Trump visited Observation Point Ouellette inside the DMZ, along with Moon, to get a glimpse of North Korea and be briefed on the security situation. Just 25 meters away from the MDL, the observation point is in Camp Bonifas, a UNC military post in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and is named after U.S. soldier Joseph R. Ouellette, who was killed during the Korean War. Former U.S. presidents, including Bill Clinton in 1993 and Barack Obama in 2012, have visited the site. In contrast to the previous presidents, who donned military bomber jackets, however, Trump wore a suit.