DMZ Photography

[Anchor Lead]

The rapidly changing diplomatic situation on the Korean Peninsula has attracted global attention to the demilitarized zone. KBS has obtained some undisclosed photos of the DMZ taken over the past 20 years, comparing them with what it looks like now.

[Pkg]

Just a 10-minute drive from the town of Yeoncheon in Gyeonggi-do Province lies the Civilian Control Zone. A South Korean guard post is just a short drive away on the dirt road. A long line visible on the mid-slope of a distant mountain is the Northern Limit Line. The area between that line and the barbed fence on the South Korean side is the demilitarized zone. A dark sign standing in the middle of the field marks the Military Demarcation Line. It used to look like this. Since the armistice treaty was signed in 1953, 1,292 such signs were put up at 200-meter intervals. Many of the signs got lost or damaged over the years and only a handful remain. North Korea set up high-voltage fences to the north of the Military Demarcation Line. It doesn't appear to be even three kilometers away. A North Korean flag flies at the top of a two-story building situated in front of the rural village. It's a North Korean military outpost. North Korean soldiers inside the guard post stand watching the South Korean side. The soldiers are even seen farming crops themselves to supplement a lack of food. The area, now abandoned and vacant, used to be an ordinary village before the war. Only the crooked traces of fields cultivated some time ago are left to testify to that distant memory. There are dreams of a day when people can travel freely across the DMZ and to the places all across the Korean peninsula.