Daesung dong Freedom Village (37°56'31.61"N and 126°40'43.26"E) is the only village in the DMZ. Residents are exempt from federal taxes and the 2-year military draft. It was the residents of this village that cultivated the land that I found and wrote about in the last entry. The land which they cultivated wasn't their own. They just rented the land from the government and farmed it. I didn't understand why they lived in such a dangerous place, but anyway the villagers were doing it for their living. The guide explained that the government didn't want to waste the land, but I wondered if that was true? How was the infrastructure, such as power and water supply, sewage system and the education of their children? The guarding of the residents must be a heavy burden for soldiers in Camp Bonifas.
On the way to Panmunjom, I found the gate of the village at the crossroads to the village. (37°56'46.52"N and 126°41'14.55"E) I felt something unusual about the gate. It looked like kind of propaganda. The guide was surprised to know my first impression, and talked about the Propaganda village, Kijundong, in North Korea.
I'll write a funny story.
The government of North Korea plotted to make a good impression of the North Korean village and built the so called the Propaganda village 1.8 km away from here. The North Korean authorities were going to show how nice the houses were in North Korea, but the fact that no one lived in the village became an open fact a short time later.
The South built a tower with their national flag in the village. In response to the tower, the North built a 160 meter high tower in the Propaganda village, but the weight of their flag was about 270kg and it seldom unfurls. How silly their acts were!
Pride sounds like a most important thing for the North. I'll show you really ridiculous facts. Look at the first picture that was taken on the street in Pyongyang City. The next picture shows the same place from the sky. Gorgeous apartments are only concrete walls. Naturally, tourists are under the watch of the authorities and not allowed to turn into the back side of the wall.
(Vocabulary)
draft 徴兵(米) = conscription
be/get drafted into the army 徴兵される = conscript (vt.)
make [create] a good impression 良い印象を与える
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