The military has launched an annual mission to remove land mines near the border with North Korea and elsewhere to promote local residents' safety and convenience, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday.

The military plans to mobilize 1,700 troops from 34 engineering units for the eight-month project to search and clear the mines near the civilian control area south of the heavily fortified border and the southern regions where the government is pushing to develop trekking courses for local residents, it said.

Millions of land mines are believed to have been buried on the divided peninsula during the 1950-53 Korean War, and many remain unaccounted for. The two Koreas are still technically at war as their conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

The military launched the annual operation to remove land mines in 1998, and a total of 60,000 mines have been removed from an area of about 3.2 million square meters so far, it said.

This year's project targets a 630,000-square-meter area in 42 regions.

"The military will carry out the mission with the safety of our service personnel as the top priority," the JCS said in a release. (Yonhap)