after 2.5 years here, I finally made the trip to the DMZ. the most interesting part of the trip was def the JSA or joint security area. we got to go into the meeting room where north and south Korea meet and even got a look at a few north Korean soldiers. although, at one point there was only one left standing in clear view and hid behind a pole for a little while.
we also got to see the north Korean propaganda village from a distance. apparently nobody actually lives there (except recently maybe a few factory workers) and it was built just to show the south how luxuriously they are living.
the south's "freedom village" is basically also propaganda except with actual residents. they said a little over 200 people live there. they make an average family income of over 80,000 us dollars by farming the surrounding rice fields, untaxed. the men are also exempt from the army so women are allowed to marry in, but men aren't. they spend all their money on nice things and cars and I assume on multiple lavish trips into Seoul throughout the year. they just have to stay in the village for 240 nights per year to stay a resident.
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