Korea's cold-war theme park, Panmunjom, is alternatively known as the Joint Security Area, or JSA; or the Truce Village. It was built in October 1951 on top of a village that was burned out during the war but that became famous for being the site where the Armistice Agreement was negotiated and subsequently signed by opposing commanders. Talks continued for two years, with troops embattled along the 38th parallel. Then in 1953, a cease-fire on July 27 opened the way for massive prisoner exchanges.
The truce terms continue to be monitored today by the United Nations-appointed Military Armistice Commission (MAC). Weekly meetings take place at the JSA so that representatives can resolve issues concerning such things as communications between the opposing armies and repatriation of war remains (1). The MAC is essentially a supervisory agency set to watch over the implementation of the truce terms, since the Armistice Agreement signed in 1953 merely effected a cease-fire in the Korean War rather than a victory or a defeat that would have actually ended the war (2). The cease-fire separated United Nations and communist forces with a 2.5-mile-wide, 148-mile-long demilitarized zone (DMZ) that runs the entire width of the Korean Peninsula. ôSteps away from war-vintage conference buildings, sworn enemies stare eye to eye across the dead center of the DMZ, the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), literally a concrete bump that separates two of the world's largest armiesö (1).
The truce has been a tenuous one. There have been over 50 serious North Korean incidents of hostility in the zone between 1967 and 2001. To keep hostilities under control, the United Nations Command Security Battalion sends regular combat patrols inside the DMZ on routes selected to be free of land mines.
The bizarre aspect of the Truce Village is that at the end of the workday, Switzerland and Swedenùthe independent watchdogs of the cease-fireùbehave ...