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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Raphael Rashid

‘Landmines have become the greatest protectors’: how wildlife is thriving in the Korean DMZ

A group of 14 large cranes flying
White-naped cranes fly in Cheorwon-gun county, near the demilitarised zone (DMZ) in South Korea’s Gangwon province. Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA

Standing on top of a small mountain, Kim Seung-ho gazes out over an expanse of paddy fields glowing in their autumn gold, the ripening grains swaying gently in the wind. In the distance, North Korea stretches beyond the horizon.

“It’s so peaceful,” says the director of the DMZ Ecology Research Institute. “Over there, it used to be an artillery range, but since they stopped firing, the nature has become so beautiful.”

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