demilitarized zone

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Report: North Korea Is Building a Wall in the DMZ

Seoul says North Korean troops have stepped up activity in area

(Newser) - It's not big, it's not beautiful, and Mexico certainly won't be paying for it, but North Korea appears to be building a wall near its southern border. The BBC says high-resolution satellite images from a stretch of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea show that...

Family: Soldier Who Crossed Into North Korea Was Grieving

Family is giving insight into Travis King's mental state

(Newser) - The family of Pvt. 2nd Class Travis King, the 23-year-old American soldier who crossed into North Korea on Tuesday , is speaking out on his recent mental state. An uncle says that King, who had served two months in a South Korean prison on assault charges and was headed back to...

Google Offers Virtual Tour of Restricted Area Near DMZ
Wildlife Is
Flourishing
in the DMZ
Feb 22, 2023 1:00 PM CST

Wildlife Is Flourishing in the DMZ

Google project offers virtual tour of restricted zone

(Newser) - The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a strip of land between North and South Korea 160 miles long and 2.5 miles wide, has been sealed off for nearly 70 years—but civilians can now see a restricted area near it for themselves through a Google Arts and Culture project. Google, with...

Kamala Harris Visits DMZ
Kamala Harris Visits DMZ
Sep 29, 2022 5:23 AM CDT

Kamala Harris Visits DMZ

She reaffirms US commitment to South Korea after North fires missiles

(Newser) - Vice President Kamala Harris capped her four-day trip to Asia with a stop Thursday at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula as she emphasized the "ironclad" US commitment to the security of its Asian allies in the face of an increasingly hostile North Korea. The visit comes on...

Man Who Crossed DMZ Into North Korea Believed to Be Gymnast

He is believed to have first defected from North to South last year

(Newser) - Update: The person who crossed the DMZ to enter North Korea over the weekend is a male gymnast, Seoul says. He is believed to have defected from North to South Korea last year, and on Saturday made his way back, the BBC reports. Why he did so is not clear,...

Latest South Korean Embarrassment: Guy in Flippers

Possible North Korean defector reportedly swam across border, crawled through beach drain pipe

(Newser) - Soldiers came upon a North Korean man wearing a wetsuit and flippers walking down a road in South Korea on Tuesday. It was "the second embarrassing breach for the South Korean military's border security in recent months" after a North Korean defector traversed the Demilitarized Zone, reaching a...

Mystery of How Defector Got Over DMZ Fence May Be Solved

North Korean man tells South Korean officials he's a gymnast who simply jumped over it

(Newser) - The North Korean man who arrived in South Korea this month claims to be a former gymnast, and it makes sense, as he apparently propelled himself over a 10-foot-tall barbed wire fence during his trip across the Demilitarized Zone . The man, said to be in his late 20s, reportedly spent...

North Korean Crosses DMZ, Asks to Defect: Report

Man in plainclothes began crossing 2.5-mile-wide zone on Tuesday

(Newser) - South Korea has detained a North Korean man who showed up on its side of the heavily fortified border separating the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday. The suspected defector in plainclothes was first observed crossing barbed wire fences in the eastern section of the 2.5-mile-wide, 155-mile-long Demilitarized Zone around 7:...

It Was Close to Midnight Near the DMZ. Then, a Rare Sight

North Korean soldier picked up by South Korean troops after being spotted by thermal imaging

(Newser) - Although it's common for North Koreans to try to make a run for the South, what's not as common are defections across the Demilitarized Zone, which is littered with guards, landmines, barbed wire, and other barriers. But that's apparently what a North Korean soldier did this week,...

Guards Were in Her Way. The New WH Press Secretary Wasn't Having It

Stephanie Grisham reportedly bruised in incident outside Trump-Kim meeting in DMZ

(Newser) - Stephanie Grisham is getting into her new role as White House press secretary—and on Sunday she apparently really got into it. CNN reports that Grisham, who was part of the entourage that accompanied President Trump to the Demilitarized Zone for his get-together with Kim Jong Un, was involved in...

Trump Becomes First Sitting President to Enter North Korea

'I was proud to step over the line'

(Newser) - With grins and handshakes, President Trump welcomed North Korea's Kim Jong Un at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone Sunday, seeking to revive talks on the pariah nation's nuclear program in a bid for a legacy-defining accord. Trump then became the first sitting American leader to step into North...

Trump Makes 'Very Interesting' Offer to Kim Jong Un

President suggests DMZ meet and greet, also weighs in on Jimmy Carter, Harris-Biden tiff

(Newser) - President Trump is set to fly back to the US Sunday after attending the G20 summit in Japan, but he's got one more thing on his list he'd like to do before he leaves: have a meet and greet with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in the...

North Korea Blows Up 10 Border Posts
North Korea Blows Up
10 Border Posts
Nov 20, 2018 12:07 AM CST

North Korea Blows Up 10 Border Posts

South Korea in the process of demolishing 10 of its own

(Newser) - North Korea blew up some of its frontline guard posts Tuesday as part of an agreement to ease tensions along its heavily fortified border with South Korea, Seoul's Defense Ministry says. In September, the militaries of both countries agreed at a leaders' summit in Pyongyang to eventually dismantle all...

North Korea Will Change Its Time Zone This Week

It's another conciliatory gesture

(Newser) - South Korea will remove propaganda-broadcasting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea this week, officials said Monday, as the rivals move to follow through with their leaders' summit declaration that produced reconciliation steps without a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff. During their historic meeting Friday at a Korean border village,...

North Korea Changes Its Soundtrack at DMZ

With start of Olympics, giant speakers blast music, not propaganda

(Newser) - It seems North Korea has changed its tune. Literally. North Korea has used giant speakers to blast propagandist martial speeches across the DMZ—the stretch of land separating it from South Korea—on a loop for years. Some US military personnel stationed at the DMZ say they can recite the...

Dramatic Footage of Defector's Escape Released

North Korean soldier runs for his life as former comrades open fire

(Newser) - Dramatic video of a North Korean soldier defecting across the DMZ last week reveals just how narrow the man's escape was. The soldier can be seen fleeing in a military vehicle, which races toward the border down empty roads. The defector is seen abandoning the vehicle after it...

North Korean Defector Had to Run After Issue With Jeep's Wheel

He was shot at least 5 times

(Newser) - A North Korean soldier fired on by his former comrades during a desperate attempt to defect across the DMZ on Monday was shot at least five times but is expected to survive, South Korean authorities say. Officials say the soldier drove a jeep toward the Joint Security Area—the only...

As He Ran Across the DMZ, His Fellow Soldiers Shot Him

Incident happened Monday in the Joint Security Area in the DMZ

(Newser) - If it sounds like an unusual event, that's because it is: A North Korea solider was shot and wounded in the demilitarized zone Monday afternoon while trying to defect to the South. The bullets came via "his former comrades," as CNN puts it, and struck him in...

Trump 'Frustrated' by Canceled Visit to DMZ

President attempted surprise visit to DMZ only to be thwarted by weather

(Newser) - President Trump scrapped a surprise visit to the Korean demilitarized zone due to poor weather Wednesday morning, the AP reports. Marine One flew most of the way from Seoul to the DMZ before turning back due to poor weather conditions. Back at the US Army's Yongsan Garrison, Trump prepared...

Proposed Trump DMZ Visit Called 'Dangerous Idea'

Move could provoke North, analysts say

(Newser) - In what analysts are calling a dangerous idea, President Trump might come within yards of North Korean soldiers with a visit to the demilitarized zone on his trip to South Korea next month. A defense source told Yonhap Tuesday that Trump wants to send a strong message to Pyongyang and...

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