By J.R. Breen
Contributing Writer

Along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the world's last Cold War frontier that separates North and South Korea, it seems U.S. servicemen are becoming more like tour guides than soldiers.

While Japanese and Chinese tourists are drawn to Korea by the shopping and the Korean Wave of movies, TV dramas and pop music, the greatest attraction for Westerners is the DMZ.

Increasing numbers of tourists are traveling to what is probably the world's most dangerous legitimate visitor site.

Over 100,000 visitors passed through the JSA, the United Nations Joint Security Area at Panmunjeom last year, on strictly organized tours.

Some 750 infantrymen make up the first line of defense near the JSA, in what is known as the United Nations Command Security Battalion.

Made up of 95 percent Korean and 5 percent American soldiers, they are among the elite in their class, said battalion member Specialist Billy Campbell of the U.S. Army as he led one group of mostly American visitors, last week.

Across the border are members of the North Korean Army. In Panmunjeom, all that separates the two sides is a thin, raised concrete line marker.

Campbell leads the group of about 60 tourists with Sergeant Robert Juarez, while grim-faced, battle-ready soldiers stand on either side, just meters apart.

Visitors are left under no illusion about what is about to confront them. It is clear the DMZ is no theme park.

Disclaimers are handed out stating that visitors are entering a hostile area and their safety cannot be guaranteed.

``The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeom will entail entry to a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action,'' reads the first line of the form.

The DMZ, which has separated the two armies since the 1953 ceasefire, stretches 240km across the Korean Peninsula.

It is 4km wide, with each side receding 2,000 meters back from the military demarcation line to form southern and northern boundaries.

At least that is the official explanation. In reality, many years ago, the North unilaterally advanced 1km. Their side of the no-man's-land is at some places even narrower.

The building that dominates the southern side of the JSA is the Freedom Building, opened in 1998 to host reunification meetings between families separated by the Korean War. It is now primarily occupied by the Red Cross.

On the North Korean side stands Panmun Hall. In response to the construction of the Freedom Building an additional floor was built on the hall, so that the two were the same height, Campbell said, explaining that the North had been upset by Freedom Building's size and style.

The tour group is led into one of the iconic blue U.N. buildings ― used by both sides ― that straddle the demarcation line. Inside, visitors are given the opportunity to take a fateful step inside the world's most reclusive nation as a U.N. guard, a South Korean taekwondo expert, mans the door leading to the North.

But outside, where stone-faced soldiers from both sides stand-off in a competition to appear most menacing, visitors are warned not to point or gesture toward the North Korean side in order to avoid any provocation.

While mostly quiet and eerie, Panmunjeom has had its moments of violence and drama. During the 1970s and 1980s, there were a number of brutal confrontations. The most fateful occurred in 1976 when a group of U.N. soldiers were pruning a tree to create a clearer view between two guard posts.

The incident escalated into a dispute which ended when U.S. soldiers Captain Arthur Bonifas and Lieutenant Mark Barrett were axed to death.

The scene has also been the staging post for petty behavior from the North, explained Campbell. In 2004, when then South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was meeting his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, two members of the North Korean army walked into the U.N. building and removed miniature flags of the United States and South Korea.

The first used the U.S. standard to blow his nose and the second used the South Korean colors to polish his boots, Campbell added.

Nearby, the only two villages in the DMZ ― Gijung in the north and Daeseong in the south ― have seen similar childishness. Giant flags positioned on either side are the result of a height contest. When the South raised its flag to 100 meters, Campbell said, the North responded by raising its own to 160 meters.

The North Korean flag is 31 meters in length and weighing over 600 pounds, is one of the largest in the world, he added.

Daseong, or Freedom Village as it is informally known, enjoys a special status. Its approximate 500 residents pay no taxes.

In addition, they on average own a substantially higher amount of farming land than other South Koreans, the former having up to 17 acres and the latter up to 4. However, residents are subject to strict rules, such as a 10 p.m. curfew.

Gijung, or Propaganda Village as the south calls it, is just for show, Campbell said. ``(It) is thought to have no permanent population and is used only for sleeping by workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.''

North Korea carries out tours of its own on its side of the frontier, though they are less frequent than those conducted by the allied nations, according to Campbell.

When North Korea conducts tours a guard is positioned in between the blue U.N. buildings facing the North Korean side, Campbell said. ``This is to stop anyone defecting south,'' he added, explaining that in 1984 a Soviet tourist had ran across the Demarcation Line, causing a fire fight in which one South Korean and three North Korean soldiers were killed.

Leaving the section of the tour led by U.S. soldiers, groups are taken to view a northern tunnel that the South says was for infiltration purposes but the North insists was a search for charcoal. North Koreans painted the tunnel black in an apparent effort to support their flimsy claim.

A video presentation at the site of the ``Third Tunnel,'' which was discovered in 1978, speaks optimistically about the DMZ, saying it could be a symbol for unification, ``a peaceful place where humans and nature can coexist.''

Previous suggestions for the site have included a peace park and a nature reserve ― it is believed to be one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world because the swathe of land has been a virtual no-man's land for 60 years.

Others take a different stance. Tour guide Shin Ji-hee, informing her group about attempts by North Korean defectors to escape to the South, points out the Imjin River as their bus passes over Unification Bridge.

``They try to swim here from North Korea, but 99 percent die. Sometimes, we can see the bodies floating in the water,'' she says. ``In my opinion, unification could be difficult because they are communist and we are a democracy.''

jrbreen@koreatimes.co.kr