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WORLD NEWS Monday 1 July 2019

DMZ, where Trump met Kim,

is a vestige of Cold War

By HYUNG-JIN KIM of history: Inside the DMZ, Panmun-
Associated Press ___ jom has been the venue
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) DMZ ORIGIN for past high-level talks. It's
— The Demilitarized Zone, The DMZ, which runs across somewhat safer than other
where President Donald the Korean Peninsula, is areas, and it is just an hour's
Trump met North Korean 248 kilometers (154 miles) drive from Seoul. Most past
leader Kim Jong Un on long and the 4 kilometers DMZ visits by U.S. presidents
Sunday, may be the most (2.5 miles) wide. Created and other officials hap- President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim
heavily fortified strip of land as a buffer at the close of pened at Panmunjom and Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, at the
in the world and serves as the 1950-53 Korean War, nearby areas. North and border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South
an uneasy and occasion- it's jointly overseen by the South Korean troops stand Korea, Sunday, June 30, 2019.
ally bloody borderline be- American-led U.N. Com- only several meters (yards) Associated Press
tween the two Koreas. mand and North Korea. away from each other
There isn't much demilita- Hundreds of thousands of there. They once carried
rized about it: A minefield North and South Korean pistols, but since last year's
laced with barbed wire, it's troops are now deployed deals they aren't armed.
guarded by combat-ready along the DMZ, which is lit- Panmunjom is also where
troops on both sides and tered with an estimated 2 an armistice was signed
has been the site of nu- million mines, tank traps, ra- to stop the Korean War.
merous, sometimes deadly zor wire fences and guard That armistice has yet to
gunbattles and skirmishes. posts. be replaced with a peace
U.S. presidents and other It's extremely rare for any- treaty, leaving the Korean
top officials have often one to cross the DMZ in Peninsula in a technical
travelled to the DMZ to re- unauthorized areas. More state of war. About 28,500
affirm their commitment to than 30,000 North Koreans American troops are still
the defense of ally South have escaped to South stationed in South Korea.
Korea in times of hostility Korea for political and eco- Panmunjom is 52 kilome-
with North Korea. nomic reasons since the ters (32 miles) north of Seoul
The venue of the third war's end, but mostly via and 147 kilometers (91
Trump-Kim meeting was the North's long, porous miles) south of Pyongyang.
the Korean border village border with China. Since the armistice, more
of Panmunjom. Last year, Violence was more com- than 830 rounds of talks
Kim stepped over into the mon in the Cold War, but have been held in various
southern side of Panmun- a 2015 land mine blast Panmunjom conference
jom for a summit with South blamed on North Korea rooms.
Korean President Moon maimed two South Korean ___
Jae-in, becoming the first soldiers and pushed the ri- PAST PRESIDENTIAL VISITS
North Korean leader to set val Koreas to the brink of an In 1993, President Bill Clin-
foot on South Korean land. armed conflict. ton visited Panmunjom
On Sunday, Trump be- As relations improved when the North Korean
came the first U.S. president last year, Kim and Moon nuclear crisis first flared. In
to cross over the demarca- agreed on several deals 2002, President George W.
tion line into the North Ko- aimed at reducing animos- Bush visited the DMZ a few
rean territory. ity at the border. weeks after he labeled
Here's a look at a border ___ North Korea part of an "axis
that was once again a part PANMUNJOM of evil."q