[Close Up] 
[Overall View]
[Close Up]
[Overall View]
KOREAN DMZ: THE LAST COLD
WAR FRONTIER
The demilitarized zone
that divides North and South Korea is one of the last remaining hot spots
of the Cold War. More than a million heavily armed soldiers and minefields,
artillery and barbed wire surround the zone. Inside, the DMZ has become
a treasure of flourishing wildlife where humans are absent.
MILITARY: About 70% of North Korea's 1.15-million-man army is believed to be stationed within 62 miles of the DMZ. Most of South Korea's 690,000 troops also are stationed near the DMZ. The U.S. has 37,000 troops in South Korea. The U.N. command administers a 1953 armistice.
GEOGRAPHY: The 150-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide DMZ is bisected by the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). No fortifications are allowed in the DMZ. The MDL is marked by 1,292 rusting yellow-and-black markers spaced every 110 to 220 yards. South-facing signs are written in Korean and English; north-facing signs in Korean and Chinese.
VILLAGES: Tae Song Dong (also known as Freedom Village) is occupied by 240 South Koreans. They pay no taxes and are exempt from military service, but they have an 11 p.m. curfew. Only those living in the village before the Korean War or their descendants are eligible for residency. Villagers grow rice, ginseng and red peppers. North Korean village is Gi Jong Dong, dubbed "Propaganda Village" by the South because loudspeakers blast Communist slogans. There are 13 households, but inhabitants are rarely seen. Many buildings have no windows.
FORTIFICATIONS
AND TUNNELS: The southern approach to the DMZ is protected by minefields
and barbed-wire fences. Patrolled by South Korean forces. Late North Korean
leader Kim Il Sung is believed to have ordered front-line units to dig
tunnels under the DMZ for infiltrators. Four tunnels have been found; others
are believed to exist.
Sources: U.N. Command, U.S. Forces Korea, CIA
Yearbook, South Korean Ministry of Defense
VICTOR KOTOWITZ / Los Angeles Times
Larger Map of the DMZ Panmunjom (DMZ)
