Nancy Pelosi will visit this enclave, located in the ‘demilitarized zone’ that divides the two Koreas and which in 2019 hosted a historic meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un
It is “the most tense area in the world.” Panmunjom, which this Thursday will receive the visit of the president of the House of Representatives of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, is the border post that divides the two Koreas. One of the most unequal and, at the same time, dangerous borders in the world.
In Panmunjom, about 60 kilometers north of Seoul, the armistice that ended the war between South and North Korea in 1953 was signed. It is located in the so-called ‘ demilitarized zone’, no man’s land, an area that covers a stretch of four kilometers wide and 238 long and which, despite its name, is one of the most closely watched regions on the planet. It is the place in the world with the highest concentration of soldiers -South Korean, North Korean and American troops coexist-, weapons and buried mines per square meter. There are so many that it would take 300 years to remove them.
But it is precisely this special character that makes it so attractive. Thousands of people come to the place every year. In fact, visitors coming from the south must first sign a document that warns them that the visit “will involve entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death.”
In reality, hardly anything remains of the old village that hosted the negotiations to end the civil war between the two countries seven decades ago. However, the building built as a symbol of the armistice, and which was later renamed by North Korea as the Peace Museum, has survived.
One of the curiosities of the place is a small blue building. It is a conference room, which has hosted several peace talks between the two Koreas. A small room built on the dividing line between the two Koreas -the 38th parallel-, so that those who enter it can cross the border between the two countries if they move from one side of the room to the other.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un held a historic meeting in 2019 at Panmunjom /
Panmunjom captures media attention from time to time due to its strategic location. In 2019, it hosted the meeting between the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un. It was a historical photo. Never before has a US president set foot on North Korean soil. The meeting encouraged hopes for peace, but, nevertheless, both leaders continued with their inflamed rhetoric until the end of the Republican mandate, always with the nuclear threat as a backdrop.
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