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Reuters All quiet on Korea's DMZ, just a bit more spit By Jonathan Thatcher Wed Oct 11, 4:20 AM ET PANMUNJOM, South Korea (Reuters) - On the Cold War's last frontier, Korea's Demilitarized Zone, it has been tension as usual since the North announced its first nuclear test, except for a bit more middle-finger waving and spit directed south.
"They (North Korean soldiers) walk around a bit more proud since the declared nuclear test. "We remain vigilant, making sure that conditions stay at what we call armistice conditions. Our job is not to ever escalate the situation," said Devarona.
United Nations Command, made up largely of US and South Korean troops, that has defended the border since the 1950-53 Korean War. No peace treaty has ever drawn a formal line under that conflict, one of the early Cold War crises and one of the last remaining. Fifty years on, more than one million troops are believed to be massed on either side of the DMZ with enough artillery to turn large parts of the rival Korean states to ash. A mere 50 km (31 miles) from the border lies the southern capital, Seoul, which with its surrounding urban sprawl is home to about half the country's population of more than 48 million. MOCKING WAY Asked what he meant by North Korean soldiers at the border looking more proud, Devarona said: "There have been more attempts for them to contact our soldiers in a kind of mocking way." "We have anything from them yelling at us, spitting across the border, throat-slashing gestures, the typical middle-finger gestures. In an almost cartoon-like atmosphere, a small group of South Korean soldiers stood legs astride, fists clenched at their side, staring at North Korean counterparts just meters (yards) away. "The stance, the helmets and the sunglasses are a means of intimidation. Just like the KPA (North Koreans) will come right up to the line with binoculars and stare at you," Devarona said. And when the group of journalists arrived, two North Korean soldiers did indeed walk up to the concrete line and, for a while, stared back before disappearing again. In one brief flurry of activity, officers from both sides exchanged words across the narrow divide. It turned out that the North Koreans just wanted to set up talks to discuss the return of the remains of one of their soldiers found floating in South Korean waters. The old wooden huts that straddle the border, designed so that the two sides can meet, are rarely used these days.
North Korean soldiers stand guard at the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, about 31 miles north of Seoul, October 11, 2006.
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