• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.19-27
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• 2019

This study is to measure the length of the Demilitarized Zone and the Military Demarcation Line(MDL) on the Korean Peninsular. For this purpose, maps of the Armistice Agreement Volume II were used. These maps are nine sheets. In order to extract the MDL shown on the map, coordinates were assigned to the scanned image maps using the georeferencing module of ArcGIS based on the sheet line coordinates. The accuracy of the extracted vectors was checked by overlaying them on the maps of the Armistice Agreement Volume II. And I tried to validate these vectors through comparative analysis with vectors extracted from Kim(2007). Vectors extracted from Kim(2007) had errors in the curvilinear parts of the MDL, but the vectors extracted from this study exactly matched the MDL in the Armistice Agreement Volume II. The measured length is 239.42km(148.77miles). This means that the expression '155mile MDL' or '248km DMZ' in papers, reports or mass media has so far been inappropriate. I think this study will be able to provide information on the exact length of the DMZ in studies related with DMZ or in policy decisions by the national and local government. However, it is deemed necessary to verify this result by national organizations such as the NGII(National Geographic Information Institute). After these verification procedures, I hope that the national government will inform the people of the exact length of DMZ and MDL.