School inside Korea DMZ includes English

updated 2:12 p.m. ET Sept. 23, 2008

TAESUNGDONG, South Korea - Inside the barbed-wire walls of Korea's Demilitarized Zone, schoolchildren in the hamlet known as "Freedom Village" competed Tuesday in foot races and showed off their traditional drumming skills.

Taesungdong Elementary School opened up its schoolyard to guests on Sports Day, offering outsiders a rare glimpse into life inside the world's most heavily armed Demilitarized Zone.

Just 1 1/2 miles away, across a field of rice paddies, North Korea's DMZ village of Kijongdong was quiet, with few signs of life in apartment blocks as empty as an abandoned movie set.

The Demilitarized Zone bisecting the Korean peninsula was created in 1953 when the three-year conflict between north and south — a bloody, protracted war that claimed millions of lives — ended in an armistice. Running from coast to coast, the buffer zone is 250 miles long and just 2 1/2 miles wide.

Each side was allowed to keep a showcase town. Villagers from the farming community of Taesungdong stayed put, under strict conditions: Soldiers carry out a daily head count and residents must be home by 11 p.m. But there are perks. The men are exempt from South Korea's military service and Taesungdong families don't pay rent or tax.

Today, the town has just 198 inhabitants, all pre-Korean War residents and their descendants. The only outsiders allowed to stay are the wives of Taesungdong men. Daughters who marry outsiders must leave, Mayor Kim Dong-hyun said.

The verdant, yellow-green rice paddies look like those that dot the countryside across South Korea — but with a backdrop of barbed wire. The village has a church, an elementary school, restaurants and a few dozen homes.

Flagpole escalation
But its most famous feature is the 330-foot-tall flagpole overlooking the schoolyard, built in the 1980s.

Not to be outdone, North Korea built an even bigger one. At 525 feet high, the flagpole is one of the world's tallest.

Viewed through a telescope, Kijongdong — known in the North as "Peace Village" and in the South as "Propaganda Village" — appeared nearly lifeless Tuesday. The rows of two- and three-story concrete apartment blocks with their sky-blue roofs looked empty.

Two people were spotted sitting by the fields, another riding a bicycle, but there was no sign of farmers.

MORE FROM ASIA-PACIFIC

Asia-Pacific Section Front

Beijing to Tibet: Independence bid doomed Chinese president builds ties with Cuba Australia cleans up after crushing storms Tibetans plot future, Dalai Lama reincarnation Ford to slash Mazda stake to raise cash Experts warn of water shortages by 2080 Asia-Pacific Section Front   Add Asia-Pacific headlines to your news reader: