South Korea announced a plan Monday to replace some of the barbed-wire fences along the east coast with unmanned border security equipment to help facilitate the lives of local residents there.
  

Under the agreement among the defense and home affairs ministries and the country's eastern province of Gangwon, the government will launch the project in the first half of this year to eliminate part of 26.4 kilometers of fencing set up in 41 areas on the eastern coastal border region.
  

The barbed-wire fences are meant to prevent possible infiltration by North Korean agents from the sea.
  

The move came after repeated calls for the fences' removal by residents in the border region over the past 60 years, who have claimed that such ugly facilities spoil the appearance of the region, which has had negative impacts on the regional economy and lowered their quality of life.
  

"In accordance with the agreement, the defense ministry and military units in the region will carry out a field survey to select the places by the end of this month where the surveillance equipment is to be installed to replace the role currently taken by the physical fences," the Ministry of National Defense said in a release.
  

The government will factor in security needs and the inconvenience to the people residing there in making the decision, according to the ministry. 
  

"The entities involved will have close consultations and will come up with diverse measures to better deter and repel the enemy," Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a regular briefing, noting that the establishment of a state-of-the-art guard post system will be one option.
  

South Korea has set up the electronic surveillance system on its front-line areas as part of efforts to boost the effectiveness of the surveillance operations amid the plan to reduce the number of troops. (Yonhap)