Seoul - The heavily-fortified land border between the two Koreas is attracting an increasing number of tourists, officials say. Visitors come from South Korea and overseas to see the watchtowers, monuments to peace such as the "friendship bridge," and to dine at restaurants in the Imjingak tourism park.
The two Koreas have been separated by a thin strip of land about four-kilometre wide since 1953. The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is almost entirely unoccupied and full of mines. It has been described as the last Cold War frontier.
The facilities along the border with the hardline communist north are as crowded as "Checkpoint Charlie," the famous crossing point the once-divided city of Berlin, say officials in Seoul.
"The demilitarized zone along the border with communist North Korea seems to have a considerable pull for tourists," said Kyung-Jo Sung, South Korea's tourism organisation (KTO) director.
Around one in 13 of all foreign visitors to South Korea takes a trip to the border, according to figures from the KTO. Every year, several million South Koreans journey to the border to pay tribute to those who died in the Korean War (1950-53) and to pray for reunification.
A number of travel operators and the tourist authority itself offer coach trips to the border which is around three hours by road from Incheon airport near Seoul. The tour lasts some three hours and sets off from Imjingak into the DMZ. There is a stop to inspect a tunnel once built by North Korea in order to "smuggle in soldiers and agents," as the local travel guide puts it.
The communist North is no longer out of bounds to tourists either. Kyung-Jo Sung pointed to day trips to North Korea's picturesque Diamond mountain region and to the border town of Gaeseong. Both allowed people "to marvel at the natural and cultural beauty of our northern neigbour," he said.
South Korea recorded a record number of 6.4 million foreign visitors last year, an increase of 4.7 per cent. Most of the tourists were from Japan, China and the United States. According to Kyung-Jo Sung, 85,220 Germans came to South Korea in 2007, making them the largest European group behind Russia. Most of them were businessmen.
