Topic Reading-Vol.1980-9/12/2017

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Living on edge of North Korea

Demilitarized Zone, better known as DMZ or the 38^th Parallel, is a 250 km long and four kilometers wide border barrier that divides the Korea Peninsula. It was created in 1953 when an armistice was signed by the representatives of the United Nations, North Korea, and China.

Though neither side of the DMZ usually shoots guns or artilleries, both sides keep broadcasting their hostile propaganda messages to each other through loud speakers.

In the south side of this remote, isolated area, there is a small rice-farming village called Taesung. The residents get a military escort to and from their work in rice paddles for protection from being abducted by the North. Also, they are exempted from income tax. The only school in the village is well equipped and staffed, 12 teachers for only 35 students. In the classroom, a large three-letter sign is put on the wall, DMZ, not Demilitarized Zone but Dream Making Zone. The students are not taught to be hostile against their neighbor. Instead, they are encouraged to dream for reunification.

Enjoy reading and thinking what the life is like within the DMZ.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/05/asia/south-korea-dmz-village/index.html