Camp Bonifas is a Republic of Korea Army post (with a small United States Army force of the United States Forces Korea present) located 400 meters from the southern boundary of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and 2400 meters from the military demarcation line, within the Joint Security Area and Panmunjom, along the Military Demarcation Line, which forms the border between South Korea (the Republic of Korea) and North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

Camp Bonifas is home to the United Nations Command Security Battalion - Joint Security Area, whose primary mission is to monitor and enforce the Armistice agreement of 1953 between North and South Korea. South Korean and American soldiers (known as "security escorts") conduct the United Nations Commander DMZ Orientation Program tours of the JSA and surrounding areas. The camp has a gift shop which sells DMZ- and JSA-related souvenirs.

The camp was formerly known as Camp Kitty Hawk and Camp Liberty Bell, but was re-named on August 18, 1986, in honor of U.S. Army Captain Arthur G. Bonifas (posthumously promoted to major), who along with 1LT Mark T. Barrett, were both killed by North Korean soldiers in what has become known as the Axe Murder Incident.

There is a par 3 one-hole "golf course" at Camp Bonifas which includes an Astroturf green and is surrounded on three sides by minefields. Sports Illustrated called it "the most dangerous hole in golf" and there are reports that at least one shot exploded a land mine.

Kevin Sullivan of The Washington Post reported in 1998 that Camp Bonifas was a "small collection of buildings surrounded by triple coils of razor wire just 440 yards south of the DMZ" that, were it not for the minefields and soldiers, would "look like a big Boy Scout camp."

References

External links

• The "Axe Murder Incident" and Operation Paul Bunyan, a Veterans of Foreign Wars organization website