Tensions spike in North and South Korea's frozen war

Jan Camenzind Broomby talks to soldiers and civilians on the front line about rising hostility in Korea’s demilitarised zone

- Jan Camenzind Broomby

In Majeong-ri, South Korea, Yoon Seol Hyun proudly claims to run the closest guesthouse to North Korea. Only a bridge, a set of guard posts, and several lines of barbed wire fence separate his village from the demilitarised zone (DMZ) which splits the Korean peninsula in two.

Normally, his hostel offers a peaceful getaway for locals visiting from the nearby capital of Seoul. But tensions between the North and the South have spiked recently and Yoon is worried, with a number of incidents around the DMZ, which is 150 miles long and 2.5 miles wide.

Last month, a number of North Korean soldiers – perhaps around 20 or 30 of them – briefly crossed the demarcation line on three occasions, retreating after soldiers from the South fired warning shots. Seoul said the incidents were likely accidents. Meanwhile, the North has been sending balloons filled with rubbish over the border, in retaliation, it claims, for a propaganda campaign by North Korean defectors and activists in the South, who regularly send over balloons carrying food, medicine, money, and leaflets criticising the North’s leaders.

Yoon worries that if things escalate, the two countries will go from trading balloons to trading bullets and bombs instead, and that his village will be the first to be affected. “Hostility between South and North is higher,” he says. “This area is close to the border, it is very serious, we worry about that.”