A Rare Look Inside North Korea's Demilitarized Zone

ByABC News
June 10, 2005, 5:42 PM

PANMUNJOM, North Korea, June 10, 2005 — -- During a rare visit to North Korea, an ABC News team visited the Demilitarized Zone, the formal boundary between North and South Korea created when combat ended in the Korean War.

Two million people were killed in the war, including nearly 34,000 Americans. A half century later, the Demilitarized Zone -- or DMZ -- is an enduring symbol of the hostilities and mistrust that remain.

Entering into the DMZ from the north today, an ABC News team drove along tree-lined roads and farmers fields. Gunshots were heard in the distance. Like its southern counterpart, North Korea's army still trains with live ammunition.

"I blame the U.S. for our country being divided," said Kim Kwang Gil, a North Korean officer. "It was the U.S. in 1950 that started this war."

In fact, most historians say it was North Korea that attacked first in a conflict that ultimately accomplished nothing. But North Koreans say the war was a great victory because they believe they fought off an invader.

So they preserved the tables where the Armistice was signed as a type of monument to what they see as American humiliation.

In the DMZ, the line of demarcation is indicated by a small, concrete barrier monitored by a series of surveillance cameras. It has effectively maintained the status quo for almost 52 years -- the North Koreans on one side, the South Koreans and Americans on the other.

Tensions have been rising lately along the DMZ, North Koreans say.

The Americans have changed from defensive military exercises in South Korea to offensive ones, Kim said.

But while their militaries face off, ABC News found North and South Korea working together just a few miles away.

In a North Korean territory, a sprawling capitalist industrial park is under construction -- funded with South Korean money, mostly from the Hyundai Motor Company.

Five factories are already operating with South Korean managers and inexpensive North Korean labor working side by side.