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According to Yonhap News Agency, after consulting with the military unit managing the South Korea-North Korea border area, authorities in Paju City, Gyeonggi Province, have resumed tours of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), including Dorasan Observatory, Tunnel No. 3, and Unification Village, starting at 9:00 AM (7:00 AM Vietnam time).
Tensions gripped the North Korean border region when Pyongyang unexpectedly detonated sections of the inter-Korean road along the Gyeongui and Donghae lines on the morning of October 15th. Immediately, sightseeing activities in the DMZ, including the famous Unification Observatory, were temporarily suspended to ensure visitor safety. The area later reopened to tourists after the lockdown at the civilian control point along the border was lifted on October 16th.
A tourist attraction located in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju City, Gyeonggi Province.
Authorities in Paju city, Gyeonggi province, have resumed tours of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
While inter-Korean border tourism routes are booming again, bringing new opportunities to the tourism industry, life for residents in Goseong County, especially those living near the border's civilian control line, remains slow-paced and filled with anxiety. Even after the lockdown was lifted, the haunting memories of those tense days still linger in their minds.
Besides tourism, residents in Goseong County, the northernmost area of South Korea's east coast, have begun returning to work in the fields after the lifting of the lockdown at the border's civilian control line.
"I'm not very surprised because this isn't the first or second time North Korea has acted provocatively. I just hope that inter-Korean relations will improve as soon as possible so that people in the border region can live in peace," Lee Wan Bae, leader of the Unification Village (Paju City, Gyeonggi Province, bordering North Korea), told Yonhap.
