From TheBestLinks.com
Map of the Korean DMZ. The DMZ is given in red, the demarcation line runs in the middle of the DMZ (black line).
The Demilitarized Zone (or DMZ) in Korea is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an acute angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. It is 248 km long and approximately 4 km wide.
History
The 38th parallel — which cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half — was the original boundary between the American and Soviet occupation zones established at the end of World War II, and became the border between North Korea and South Korea upon the formation of those two countries in 1948. (See Division of Korea for more details.) The Korean War began in 1950, and by 1951 the two sides involved had settled down into more or less of a stalemate position, roughly along the line the DMZ follows today. When a ceasefire was agreed upon in 1953, the DMZ was established along the stalemate line. Owing to the stalemate, large numbers of troops are still stationed along both sides of the line, each side guarding against potential aggression from the other side.
Military Demarcation Line
The line running down the middle of the DMZ—and that divides North and South Korea—is called the Military Demarcation Line. The line is only a ceasefire line: although it has served as the boundary between the two countries since 1953, the two countries are still technically at war. In Korean, the line is called Hyujeonseon (Revised Romanization (RR))/Hyujŏnsŏn (McCune-Reischauer (MR)) (휴전선; 休戰線), which literally means "ceasefire line." In colloquial usage, the dividing line is more often called the Sampalseon (RR)/Samp'alsŏn (MR) (삼팔선; 三八線; "38th parallel"), a name likely coined at the end of World War II, when it would have been an accurate description of the North-South border.
Transportation
Panmunjeom, Border between South and North Korea
Panmunjeom (RR)/P'anmunjŏm (MR) is the site of the negotiations that ended the Korean War and is the main centre of human activity in the DMZ. The village is located on the main highway and railway line (called the Gyeongui Line before division and today in the south and the P'yŏngbu Line in the north) connecting Seoul and P'yŏngyang. The highway is used on rare occasions to move people between the two countries (much like Checkpoint Charlie in Cold War Berlin), and the railway line is currently being reconnected as part of the general thawing in the relations between North and South. A new road and rail connection is also being built on the Donghae Bukbu (Tonghae Pukpu) Line.
Wildlife
Except in the area around the truce village of Panmunjeom and more recently on the Donghae Bukbu Line on the east coast, humans for the most part not entered the DMZ for the last fifty years, creating as a by product the one of the most well preserved pieces of temperate in the world. Many hope that if reunification occurs, the former DMZ will become a wildlife refuge.
Tunnels
A few tunnels have been discovered connecting North Korea to South Korea under the DMZ, which authorities in the south have alleged to be conduits for covert invasion. The first tunnel was discovered on 15 November 1974. It is believed to be about 45m metres below surface, with a total length of about 3.5 kilometres, penetrating over 1000 metres into the DMZ. When the first tunnel was discovered, it featured electric lines and lamps, as well as railways and vehicles. The second was discovered on 19 March 1975, and is of similar length and between 50 and 160 metres below surface. The third tunnel was discovered on 17 October 1978. As the previous two, the third tunnel was dicovered following a tip off from a North Korean defector. This time the South Koreans failed to find the tunnel directly, but dug a counter-tunnel to meet the North Korean tunnel. This tunnel is about 2 kilometres long and about 150 metres below surface. The fourth tunnel was discovereed on 3 March 1990. It is almost identical in structure to the second and the third tunnel.
The tunnels are each large enough to allow the passing of a division in a single hour. Today, it is possible to visit some of the tunnels as part of guided tourist tours from the south.
Propaganda
Tourists visiting the southern side of the DMZ are told (by US soldiers acting as tour guides) that the North Korean building facing South Korea on the DMZ is not a real building, but "a facade designed to look large and impressive, but is in reality only a frame a few feet (1m) thick." Tourists who have visited the northern side of the DMZ have refuted this. Propaganda in North has stated that the US and South Korea have built a massive unclimbable wall across the entire length of the DMZ.[1] (http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip10-mangyongdae.htm~mainframe)
See also
External link
- Life in Korea (http://www.lifeinkorea.com/culture/dmz/dmz.cfm?Subject=History2) - article on the DMZ
nl:DMZ Korea
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