South Korea's Ministry of Defence has announced it will reduce the number of soldiers stationed along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) — the heavily fortified border dividing South and North Korea, two countries still technically at war — by 75%, from roughly 22,000 troops to just 6,000 by 2040. The personnel will be gradually replaced by an automated AI-powered surveillance system, according to Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back. The move is driven by South Korea's severe demographic decline: with a birth rate of just 0.8 children per woman, the number of available military conscripts is projected to fall from around 330,000 in 2020 to only 150,000 by 2039, leaving the armed forces with little choice but to modernise how the world's most closely watched border is guarded.