Hello, everyone. This is your DMZ Live audio curator, Saengsaengi
DMZ stands for the (Korean) Demilitarized Zone.

The DMZ is an area where South and North Korea agreed not to deploy military forces 2 km from each Military Demarcation Line (MDL), which was mutually decided upon during the armistice negotiations of the Korean War. As a result of the area being restricted to civilian access for over 70 years, the DMZ has been preserved, and the scars of war have healed naturally. The DMZ has now become the repository for the ecosystem of the Korean Peninsula. It has a total area of 903.3 km2, accounting for 0.41% of the entire Korean Peninsula, or is a similar area to about half the size of Jeju Island, and is home to 101 out of 267 endangered species (38% of the total endangered species) and the estimated total species is about 6,000. However, considering the challenges of conducting an ecological examination in the DMZ, the actual number of species is believed to be higher than what is known.

Despite being considered a beautiful ecological site, the DMZ is viewed as a symbol of division associated with the dark history of war or a place we cannot visit. People think of it as a terrifying and dangerous place before anything else. Although we might think of it as a “place where we cannot visit” or “a place where no one can visit,” the DMZ would be a magical and meaningful place for us if we thought of it as a “place that will become our lives’ foundation.”

The DMZ holds value as a carefully preserved pristine environment supporting diverse flora and fauna. It also carries a symbolic meaning that reminds us of the division between the South and the North. Although it is currently not freely accessible to the public, I hope you can experience the DMZ more closely and vividly through various virtual experiences and realistic media experiences at the DMZ Live Immersive Media Center.