Part 2: Ch’eorwon
Ch'eorwon is, to my knowledge, the South Korean city closest to the DMZ.
The DMZ itself is something of an ongoing contradiction. A war that never ended (and an armstice that was recently repudiated) left a parallel double-boundary between states. Nearby the population is sparse. The fields are very fertile, and supposedly the best rice in the (Korean) world is grown here. As you approach the DMZ, you encounter guards with automatic weapons with bayonet ends stationed in ... cartoon-decorated towers. You are allowed passage into the nearby area, but not into the DMZ. (Though I have heard recently wildlife expeditions have been started.)
In the middle of the DMZ lie the ruins of an ancient castle that neither side can excavate, should there even be anything left therein.
(Picture inset: The tip of a rifle sticks out behind a cartoon fox in a checkpoint.)
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