Axes, sunglasses and now a summit at Korean DMZ

In the Demilitarised Zone that has divided the two Koreas for decades, the two sides come face to face — along with the contradictory narratives that will underlie a summit at the site this week.

South Korean guards chosen for their height and looks, and sporting aviator sunglasses stand stern and unmoving outside the blue huts of the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom, only metres from North Korean positions.

The truce village is a frequent destination for tourists on both sides of the border, and for US presidents seeking to symbolically demonstrate Washington’s commitment to defend Seoul from the nucleararmed North.

And on Friday North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will walk across the gravel between the huts to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in only the third such encounter since the Korean War. Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war after the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

A US security escort tells visitors on the southern side that the South Korean soldiers ‘stand face-to-face with the enemies on a daily basis’.

He highlights the 1976 killing of two US soldiers who were ‘brutally axed to death’ with their own implements by North Korean guards when they tried to prune a tree whose leaves were blocking the US-led United Nations forces’ view.