▲ South Korean and U.S. soldiers are on guard at the Joint Security Area of the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, in this file photo provided by the Defense Daily from July 19, 2022, when its tour reopened after years of suspension due to the pandemic. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has installed screens around its building inside the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom to block it from public view, apparently for ongoing renovation work, military sources said Monday.

The screens covering the Panmungak facility, located on the northern side of the Joint Security Area (JSA), were erected in April in what appeared to be part of renovation efforts, military sources with knowledge of the matter said.

The North had put up screens around the building for renovation work in the past.

Panmungak, built in 1969, sits 80 meters north of the Military Demarcation Line within the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas. It directly faces South Korea's Freedom House in the JSA.

The three-story Panmungak houses a guard command post and has the "pink phone," a direct hotline between the North and the United Nations Command, which administers the Armistice Agreement that halted the 1950-53 Korean War.

The building has also served as a venue for key inter-Korean engagements in the past, including the 2018 summit between then President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The place made headlines as Kim emerged from Panmungak to meet Moon at the border line.

Pyongyang has severed ties with Seoul since peace talks with the United States during the Moon administration collapsed without a deal. The regime declared in late 2023 that the two Koreas were "two hostile states."

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[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]