THE SUNKEN GARDEN

A mostly decorative area as its name suggests, in 1984 a defection gone wrong led to a number of Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers becoming trapped in the garden during a firefight. Vasiliy Yakovlevich Matuzok worked as a Soviet translator and was visiting the JSA when he ran across the Military Demarcation Line. Pursued by KPA soldiers, troops from the south returned fire as Matuzok made his escape.