The Korean DMZ : A Symbol from Death to LifeThe Korean Demilitarized Zone was created as the result of the armistice agreement in 1953 after the 3 year-long Korean War which took place from 1950 to 1953.
For its initial purpose as the buffer zone between the South and North Koreas, the DMZ has been evacuated since 1953. No inhabitant, no human activity has been allowed in the DMZ.
For more than 50 years, it has been a deserted land. For example, soldiers from both sides have not been able to exhume the bodies of old combat comrades in the DMZ to avoid any unintentional appearance of hostility.
Fully armed with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, the DMZ has been the land of death. At least more than a dozen times per year, North Korean solders have fired against the South which the South has reported to the UN Security Council as violation of the armistice agreement. However, those hostile acts continue to happen in the DMZ as of now.
I still remember the shivering memory of staying overnight in the DMZ for a reconnaissance mission as a part of my officer training program in 1995. Absolute silence filled with blood-pumping tension overwhelmed me that night.
From the 1990’s, the South Korean President adopted the so-called “Sunshine Policy” which takes its name from Aesop’s tale, i.e. the tale of how the sun could take off the traveller’s coat. Instead of an eye-to-eye policy in treating the North’s hostility, the South tried to show trust to North by providing aid.
Despite the skepticism against the Sunshine policy, there has been a series of visible consequences between the two Koreas.
The recent visit of the South President to Pyoung -Yang, the capital of North Korea, is the epitome of those consequences suggesting the improved relationship of the two Koreas. It was a historic moment when the South Korean President could step on the Military Demarcation Line in DMZ while North Korean soldiers guarded ‘the enemy target No. 1’, the President of South Korea..
The sensation was doubled by the dark historical impression of the land of death “DMZ”. The DMZ now becomes the birthplace of new hope between the two Koreas.
Not only as the birthplace of hope, the DMZ now becomes famous for the birthplace of rare and endangered species. As no human activity has been carried out for more than 50 years, the DMZ has become a paradise for wild animals and plants.
The citizens of Seoul are eager to pay more money for the fruits and dairy products which were produced near the DMZ because of its cleanness from pollution.
Now the DMZ’s old image of the dead land is changing to the birthplace of Hope and Life.
For its initial purpose as the buffer zone between the South and North Koreas, the DMZ has been evacuated since 1953. No inhabitant, no human activity has been allowed in the DMZ.
For more than 50 years, it has been a deserted land. For example, soldiers from both sides have not been able to exhume the bodies of old combat comrades in the DMZ to avoid any unintentional appearance of hostility.
Fully armed with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, the DMZ has been the land of death. At least more than a dozen times per year, North Korean solders have fired against the South which the South has reported to the UN Security Council as violation of the armistice agreement. However, those hostile acts continue to happen in the DMZ as of now.
I still remember the shivering memory of staying overnight in the DMZ for a reconnaissance mission as a part of my officer training program in 1995. Absolute silence filled with blood-pumping tension overwhelmed me that night.
From the 1990’s, the South Korean President adopted the so-called “Sunshine Policy” which takes its name from Aesop’s tale, i.e. the tale of how the sun could take off the traveller’s coat. Instead of an eye-to-eye policy in treating the North’s hostility, the South tried to show trust to North by providing aid.
Despite the skepticism against the Sunshine policy, there has been a series of visible consequences between the two Koreas.
The recent visit of the South President to Pyoung -Yang, the capital of North Korea, is the epitome of those consequences suggesting the improved relationship of the two Koreas. It was a historic moment when the South Korean President could step on the Military Demarcation Line in DMZ while North Korean soldiers guarded ‘the enemy target No. 1’, the President of South Korea..
The sensation was doubled by the dark historical impression of the land of death “DMZ”. The DMZ now becomes the birthplace of new hope between the two Koreas.
Not only as the birthplace of hope, the DMZ now becomes famous for the birthplace of rare and endangered species. As no human activity has been carried out for more than 50 years, the DMZ has become a paradise for wild animals and plants.
The citizens of Seoul are eager to pay more money for the fruits and dairy products which were produced near the DMZ because of its cleanness from pollution.
Now the DMZ’s old image of the dead land is changing to the birthplace of Hope and Life.
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