Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, right, speaks during a consultative meeting with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) at the National Assembly, Wednesday. The government and DPK agreed Wednesday to lift some restricted military zones in border areas to ease residents' inconvenience. / Yonhap

By Park Ji-won

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) agreed Wednesday to lift the restricted military zone designation for some areas of the border region with North Korea.

The Ministry of National Defense and the ruling DPK held a consultative meeting and decided to lift restrictions on 337 square kilometers of controlled military land at 21 sites, the largest amount since 1994.

"People will be able build and develop facilities without consulting the military authorities as their property rights will be returned to them, and this will boost the local economy in those areas," DPK chief policymaker Kim Tae-nyeon said after the meeting.

The move comes in line with the two Korea's efforts to ease military tension along the border and boost exchanges. Under inter-Korean agreements, the two Koreas finished demolishing 10 guard posts on each side of the border recently.