Daeseong-dong (also called Tae Sung Dong, Jayu-ui Maeul and Daeseongdong-gil) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

close to the North Korean border. It lies within the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone (Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...

(DMZ). The village is about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) south of the

Bridge of No Return Located in the Joint Security Area (JSA), the so-called "Bridge of No Return" crosses the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) between North Korea and South Korea. History It was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean Armistice in 1953. ...

, and 12 km (7.5 miles) from the city of

Kaesong Kaesong (, ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region close t ...

, North Korea. , the village has 193 inhabitants.

Location

Daeseong-dong belongs administratively to Josan-ri, Gunnae-myeon, in

Paju Paju () is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Paju was made a city in 1997; it had previously been a county (''gun''). The city area of Paju is ,"Paju (Gyeonggi-do Province)." ''Naver Encyclopedia of Knowledge''. Naver, 2015. 4 Mar. 2016. ...

. It is the only civilian habitation within the southern portion of the DMZ.

Panmunjeom Panmunjom, also known as Panmunjeom, now located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea or Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea, was a village just north of the ''de facto'' border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 Korean ...

is to the northeast, and the actual

Military Demarcation Line The Military Demarcation Line (MDL), sometimes referred to as the Armistice Line, is the land border or demarcation line between North Korea and South Korea. On either side of the line is the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The MDL and DMZ wer ...

(the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' border between South and North Korea) is only west of the village. Only individuals who lived in the village before the Korean War, or are descendants of those who did, are allowed to move to the village. Daeseong-dong is only from

Kijong-dong Kijŏng-dong, Kijŏngdong, or Kijŏng tong is a Potemkin village in P'yŏnghwa-ri (), Kaesong, North Korea. It is situated in the North's half of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Also known in North Korea as ''Peace Village'' (), While the southern half of the DMZ is under the administration of the

United Nations Command United Nations Command (UNC or UN Command) is the multinational military force established to support the South Korea, Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War. It was the first international unified command in history, an ...

, the residents of Daesong-dong are considered South Korean civilians, and subject to South Korean laws. These residents have some unique benefits and restrictions. For example, they have the same rights to vote and receive education, but are exempt from national defense duties and taxation. Residents are also allocated large plots of land and have some of the highest farming income in the nation. However, they are subject to limitations. The safety of the villagers is paramount, since North Korean soldiers can cross and have crossed the border. Visitors invited to the village must apply for a military escort two weeks in advance. There is a curfew and headcount at 23:00 local time.

Economy

Farming is the primary economic activity of the village, particularly bags of rice sold with a DMZ brand.

Flagpoles

In the 1980s, the South Korean government built a

flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

in Daeseong-dong, which flies a South Korean flag weighing . In what some have called the "flagpole war", the North Korean government responded by building the Panmunjeom flagpole in Kijŏng-dong, only west of the border with South Korea. It flies a

flag of North Korea The flag of North Korea, also known as the Ramhongsaek Konghwagukgi ( ko, 람홍색공화국기; literally "blue and red-coloured flag of the republic"), sometimes known as the flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, consists of a c ...

Elementary school

The village also has a small elementary school, Daeseong-dong Elementary School. The school, once slated for closure due to the changing demographics of the village, in 2011 educated a total of thirty children from grades K-6, with a waiting list to get in due to the funding and attention it receives from the South Korean government. As of 2017, only 10 of the students live in the village.

References

External links