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South Korea plans to resume tours of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone this week, local media reported Thursday.

The Unification Ministry is set to resume the program Friday following its suspension in late 2023 due to military tensions with longtime rival North Korea, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The first group of 17 government officials and executives from state-owned companies is scheduled to tour Panmunjom, a village just north of the de facto border between North Korea and South Korea where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War was signed.

South Korea initially halted tours in July 2023 after a former US Army soldier, Travis King, crossed the border into North Korea during a tour to the Joint Security Area near the border, stoking military tensions.

King was detained in North Korea for around two months before being released and returned to the US.

In addition, on or about Oct. 8, 2022 near Seoul, he unlawfully assaulted a superior noncommissioned officer by grabbing him by the arm.

He was later sentenced to a prison term that amounted to the time he had already served.

He pleaded guilty to five charges: One count of desertion, one count of assault on a non-commissioned officer and three counts of disobeying a lawful order.

He was sentenced by a military judge to 12 months in prison for desertion and one month for each of the four other counts.

The tours were partially resumed in November 2023 but were completely suspended again about a week later for "public safety" due to heightened military tensions between the two countries.

Since then, only foreigners, including foreign Korean War veterans, have been allowed to visit the site.

The resumption, however, will be currently limited to policy-related visitors, while the timing for reopening tours to the general public will be decided later based on safety conditions.

*Writing by Aamir Latif