The construction reflects Pyongyang's shift away from decades of pursuing peaceful reunification toward treating South Korea as a permanently separate hostile state, they said.
Satellite imagery has revealed extensive vegetation clearing and newly built roads along the North Korean side of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), which runs through the center of the DMZ.
Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University, said the project should be understood as the physical implementation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's declaration that the two Koreas are separate states.
"This is a project to turn the line into a state border," Koh said. "Alongside the constitutional measures it has taken, North Korea is now taking physical steps to divide the South and North into two states."
"The roads should be viewed as military roads for managing that border."
Kim abandoned the North's longstanding goal of peaceful reunification at the end of 2023, redefining inter-Korean relations as those between "two hostile states." Since then, Pyongyang has referred to the MDL area as its "southern border" while steadily fortifying the frontier.
Satellite imagery shows that an almost 18-kilometer road has appeared along the North Korean side of the MDL near Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, since July last year.
The figures refer to the combined length of roads extending along the border rather than roads running deep into North Korean territory.
Images also show a new road and bridge under construction near the upper reaches of the Bukhan River immediately north of the MDL. The road, about 10 meters wide, is capable of accommodating military vehicles.
The roads form part of a broader network of fences, minefields, barriers and cleared strips being established along the northern side of the DMZ. They are likely intended to transport workers and construction materials, patrol newly installed barriers and rapidly move personnel between different sections of the border.
Koh, however, questioned the roads' military value as invasion routes.
"If North Korea were preparing for an invasion, there would be little reason to move forces through a place that is fully exposed to the South," he said. "A road along the border could itself become an easy target."
The DMZ remains a buffer zone established under the 1953 Armistice Agreement, extending roughly two kilometers on either side of the MDL. Deploying armed combat units or heavy weapons into the zone could constitute an armistice violation.
Another defense expert agreed that the roads are better suited to maintaining border infrastructure than supporting offensive operations.
"Ultimately, I believe the greater purpose is to prevent North Korean residents from moving south," he said.
By erecting physical barriers along the frontier, Pyongyang can also reinforce its domestic narrative that South Korea is a separate enemy state posing a constant threat, he added.
He also noted that roads immediately adjacent to the MDL have limited military significance in modern warfare because North Korea already possesses artillery, missiles and other long-range weapons capable of striking targets far beyond the border.
That assessment broadly aligns with the United Nations Command's own evaluation.
In a fact sheet released on June 23, the UNC said fencing, road construction and vegetation clearing do not violate the Armistice Agreement as long as the activities remain north of the MDL and do not introduce heavy weapons, combat units or offensive military technologies into the DMZ.
The command said roads and fences could serve legitimate defensive purposes, including preventing infiltration and unauthorized crossings, and added that it had found no evidence North Korea had deployed heavy weapons or drone capabilities inside the DMZ.
Most construction remains about 100 meters north of the MDL, although the UNC is investigating South Korean allegations that some fences or land mines may have crossed the line in several locations.
The UNC also said the Korean People's Army notified it in the summer of 2025 of plans to begin fence construction and road repairs. North Korean personnel operating close to the MDL later withdrew after receiving UNC warnings, reducing the risk of an accidental confrontation.
Publicly available flight-tracking data showed a U.S. Army Aerial Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare System (ARES) aircraft conducting multiple missions after taking off from Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on July 18. The aircraft also flew over waters off North Korea's South Hwanghae Province, where missile-related facilities are located.
ARES had separately operated near China's eastern coastline on July 11, flying close to Qingdao, Shanghai and Wenzhou while China and Russia were conducting joint naval exercises.
A U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton high-altitude surveillance drone was also detected over central South Korea on July 14 and again on July 17.
There is no public evidence directly linking those reconnaissance flights to North Korea's border construction.
South Korea's Defense Ministry, however, maintains that the project constitutes a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement.
"North Korea has approached to within 10 meters of the Military Demarcation Line to install barbed-wire fences and build tactical roads as part of its efforts to fortify the border," the ministry said.
"We strongly condemn these actions as clear violations of the Armistice Agreement and are maintaining close surveillance and readiness in coordination with the United Nations Command."
While Seoul continues to characterize the construction as an Armistice violation, many North Korea specialists see the project not as preparation for war but as another step in Kim's effort to transform the armistice line into a permanent national border—physically, politically and psychologically.
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