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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Jan Camenzind Broomby in Panmunjom and Justin McCurry

‘The scariest place on earth’: inside the DMZ as tensions between North and South Korea rise

South Korean soldiers patrol near a barbed wire fence along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea.
South Korean soldiers patrol near a barbed wire fence along the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Just a stone’s throw from North Korea, farmer Park Se-un tends to his crops under the watchful eye of the South Korean military. In the distance, past the bushes and fields strewn with landmines, he can see North Korean soldiers on patrol.

Park’s village of Daeseong-dong is the only inhabited area in the south of Korea’s demilitarised zone (DMZ), located just 365 metres from North Korea at its closest point. Born and raised inside this zone, Park is used to the political tensions that shape his everyday life.

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