North vs. South Korea – On the Border Where the Cold War Never Ended

It is 245 kilometers long and four kilometers wide: the “demilitarized zone” between North and South Korea is considered the most dangerous and best-guarded border in the world. Attempts to enter them would likely result in death. In addition to well over a million land mines, there are also grenades and other projectiles from the Korean War (1950-53) in the ground. Since then, the zone on the south side has been “guarded” by a UN force, which today consists of 70 American and about 300 Korean soldiers under American command.

It was depressing, but at the same time symbolically important, to see this “final peak of the Cold War” firsthand, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said during his visit. North Korean soldiers and UN forces face each other in the “Common Security Zone” to the west of the peninsula. But contact is currently limited to daily phone calls, where information is exchanged about the security situation.

Kim Jong Un ‘ignites more’
“It is important that contact is maintained during these times too,” reports the American UN commander. Finally, “the North Korean ruler is increasingly inflamed,” Schallenberg said. “Since the beginning of the year, he has conducted more than 40 missile tests.”

Until the start of the pandemic, there were even daily face-to-face meetings between the soldiers on the demarcation line. In 2019 Donald Trump “visited” the dictator Kim Jong Un on a blue bridge on the border, which at the time had to be widened because the two gentlemen are a bit taller. But at the moment there is not only a political, but also an ice age here.

Three corridors that were built a few years ago to make the first contacts possible have come to a standstill. It wasn’t until US Vice President Pamela Harris came to visit a few weeks ago that you noticed movement in the two-story border building: the North Korean soldiers apparently wanted to take private photos of the prominent visitor…