The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) will push ahead with a research project aimed at examining the future redeployment of ground forces on the entire Korean peninsula in the event of unification, the South’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) confirmed on Thursday.

During a regular new briefing, MND spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo said the decision was being made to prepare “for changes in the security situation in the future.”

The South Korean military, she continued, commissioned the research project to a private subcontractor due to need for “establishing and preparing [new] military strategies,” stressing that the research will not impact current policy.