By Lee Hana and Kim Hyelin
Photos = Jeon Han
Panmunjeom | April 18, 2018

In the days leading up to the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, members of the foreign press have been zooming in on Panmunjeom, a unique area on the frontier of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that will go down in history once again on April 27.

Panmunjeom is where the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, officially ceasing all hostilities in the Korean War (1950-1953). It's located 62 km northwest of Seoul and 215 km south of Pyeongyang. Panmunjeom's Joint Security Area (JSA) is the one place where the North and the South are able to meet face-to-face. The Freedom House and the Peace House stand south of the demarcation line, while the Panmun Pavilion and the Tongil House are to the north.

In most cases, Panmunjeom visits are by reservation only and are conducted in groups, but the announcement of the upcoming 2018 Inter-Korean Summit has stirred up the public's interest in visiting the military frontier.

On April 18, with just nine days to go until next week's talks, the Inter-Korean Summit Preparation Committee organized a group tour for foreign press to give them a chance to film advance footage of the Panmunjeom area. A total of 76 media outlets from 14 different countries attended the tour, in two groups, for two and a half hours each.

After passing through a security clearance at the Tongil Daegyo Bridge, the journalists arrived at the JSA Visitor Center where they were instructed to film only within the confines of specific boundaries, and to adhere to protocol. From there, they boarded several mini tour buses and headed to Panmunjeom.

From inside the moving tour bus, the DMZ looked serene under the rays of spring sunshine. When the JSA guard, the group's assigned tour guide, pointed out Daeseong-dong, the south's border village, and Gijeong-dong, a northern village, both sides were green with new leaves and were decorated with cherry blossoms. As filming was prohibited, those inside the bus could only observe the landscape with their eyes.



As the bus arrived at the Panmunjeom Freedom House, the journalists swiftly made their way down the steps to the JSA, where the iconic row of U.N.-blue barracks stand along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Everyone's cameras were out, snapping pictures of the symbolic spot.

Broadcast journalists from media outlets such as CNN, NHK and CCTV filmed video footage right by the MDL, pointing out that in a little over a week North Korea's leader would step over this very boundary. There was buzz about whether or not the event would be broadcast live.

"Though it's not my first time here, I'm disappointed that I couldn't take more footage of the Panmunjeom area. I understand that it's not possible due to security reasons," said Andres Sanchez Braun, a journalist with EFE, a Spanish news agency. "I can tell South Korea is paying attention to the details," he noted.

The press was even more attentive when the group moved to the Peace House, the site for next week's talks. The Peace House is a three-story stone building that was built specifically for the purpose of facilitating inter-Korean talks. Though they weren't allowed inside the building, the journalists filmed the exterior from as many angles as possible in preparation for the upcoming event.

"It was a shame that we couldn't go inside the Peace House. I paid the most attention to this building, as this is where the summit will actually take place," said Frederic Ojardias from RFI France Medias Monde. "I did wonder whether Kim Jong Un would come by car or on foot to the place, and how President Moon Jae-in would greet him," he said.



On the last stop, the group visited the Inter-Korean Transit Office that serves as an immigration and customs checkpoint for road travel between the two Koreas. As the tour drew to a close, the journalists snapped pictures of the sign above the tollgates that showed the official slogan for the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit: "Peace, A New Start."

According to a statement released by the Inter-Korean Summit Preparation Committee on April 18, a total of 2,833 journalists have registered for the upcoming talks, including 858 journalists from 180 overseas media outlets from 34 countries.

hlee10@korea.kr