Life in a village half a kilometer from North Korea

The propaganda is so loud that houses in Taesung, a small village on the gateway to North Korea, have to build thick walls to block out the sound.

Also known as "Freedom Village", Taesung is the only South Korean settlement in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

According to CNN, the closest point of the village is only about 500 meters from North Korea, which gives the village a favorable position to observe the escalating military tensions after North Korea threatened to launch four missiles near the US territory of Guam in August and conducted its sixth nuclear test last weekend.

Houses in the village have to build thick walls to insulate them. Photo: CNN

Cho Young-sook, who runs a restaurant in the village, is one of the 197 South Koreans living in Taesung. She moved here 38 years ago after marrying a local man.

"We're looking at the situation quite negatively right now. We lock our doors at night, which we've never done before," she told CNN.

In addition to loudspeakers, both North and South Korea are busy competing over the size of their flagpoles. North Korea currently leads with a 165-meter-tall flagpole in the village of Kijong in the DMZ.

Residents of Taesung said they occasionally saw people going in and out of Kijong village, but could not determine whether they were residents or soldiers.

Because of the dangers of settling here, residents, who live in the village 240 days a year, enjoy many benefits. Because the village is under the control of the United Nations Command and not the South Korean government, villagers do not have to pay taxes and are exempt from military service.

Some residents wanted to talk on camera, some didn't. They worried that anything they did or said would be misinterpreted by North Korea.

“We feel quite uncertain at this point,” said Ms. Cho.

Outside Cho's restaurant, there is a sign warning residents of the dangers they face. The village has a bomb shelter complete with oxygen masks and emergency procedures. Residents regularly practice evacuation drills.

However, Cho said she would never consider leaving Taesung.

Children in Taesung study at a spacious school. Photo: CNN

Despite being located on the border, the village has a school that can be proud of. There are 12 teachers in charge of 35 students. The classrooms are equipped with better facilities than the average elementary or kindergarten in Korea.

Jin Young-jin, the school principal, said that teachers here never speak ill of North Korea.

"We always emphasize the importance of the unification of the two Koreas," Jin said. "Many children here hope that South and North Korea will be reunited in the near future."

Taesung is a rice farming community that has been inhabited for generations, but since 1953 when the Korean peninsula was divided following the Korean War, residents have lived with a threat that looms over every aspect of their lives.

Farmers need South Korean military escorts when they go to their fields, as they could cross into North Korean territory if they accidentally do so. A stream running through the rice fields serves as a natural border between the two Koreas.

Villagers are subject to a nighttime curfew and are subject to nightly house checks by armed soldiers. They also have to pass through checkpoints when entering or leaving the village. There are two buses to Taesung every day.

According to Vietnamnet