Panmunjeom, the last cold war frontier where North and South Korea come face to face
The truce village is located in the heavily fortified demilitarised zone, where gunbattles have regularly broken out since the end of the Korean war
Among a row of sky-blue huts straddling the border between North and South Korea, soldiers from both sides face off against each other on the world’s last cold war frontier.
Panmunjeom in the demilitarised zone, where officials from North and South Korea met on Tuesday, is a traditional point of contact on the border but also a physical representation of the 1950-53 Korean war’s enduring effects.
Millions of Koreans died in the conflict, with the armistice signed at Panmunjeom leaving the peninsula divided and the two Koreas technically still at war in the absence of a formal peace treaty.
Despite its name, the DMZ separating the two Koreas is one of the world’s most heavily fortified frontiers, brimming with minefields and watchtowers.
Panmunjeom is the only place in the DMZ where the two sides come face to face, with the border marked only by a low concrete divider.
