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Article: Cannon to the north of them. (South Korea Survey)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 21, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PANMUNJOM is the world's weirdest tourist spot. A tiny village on the 38th north parallel, it straddles the Military Demarcation Line which runs through the centre of the DMZ dividing Korea. Each year 75,000 visitors peep into North Korea from the raised Freedom Pagoda south of the line. They are escorted into the Military Armistice Commission mAc) building in which a halt to the Korean war was called in 1953. The line runs through the MAc building, so they can step over into North Korea to be stared at by North Korean soldiers peering through the windows.
They may observe the flags on the conference table: the United Nations flag has a larger spike on top, but ...