Of the 130,000 South Korean soldiers conscripted every year, only a handful will ever get to see their sworn enemies in the flesh. They are the ones stationed at the “demilitarised zone” that separates the two Koreas.
The area, commonly known as the DMZ, is one of the most fortified borders in the world – separating two countries that have technically remained at war since 1953. It also a serves as a tourist attraction, visited by thousands of people a year.
Tensions along the border have been raised since two South Korean officers were gravely injured by a landmine last August. Seoul immediately blamed Pyongyang, who rejected the allegations but declared the country on a war footing.
On patrol
For Shin Yong-tae, a former South Korean soldier who took part in patrol missions near the North Korean border, the threat of landmines was always present.
“Once I heard a click under my boots and I could feel the shivers down my spine,” he said, recounting a near miss on patrol.
“I think I just stepped on a mine,” he told his fellow soldiers – who immediately ran away and left him.
“I couldn’t even scream as our regular patrol had to be done in absolute silence,” Shin said.
Later the officer in charge came with a knife and carefully dug the ground under Shin’s foot – only to reveal that he had stepped on a tin can.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/21/north-korea-south-korea-dmz-landmines
