South Korean Villagers Observe Easing Tensions From The Border With DPRK

HYEONNAE, GANGWON - JUNE 10: 54 year-old Park Myoungho, an old style diver processes sea products that he collected for the customers of his restaurant in the town on June 10, 2018 in Hyeonnae, South Korea. Park defected to South Korea from North Korea with his family in 2006 after two years of the fishing divers' life in the islands in the West Sea near the border between South and North Korea. He was a captain in the North Korean Airforce when he was discharged in 1998 and he became a diver in the East Sea. While he was living in a little town on the east coast, he was able to listen South Korean radio. He said, he decided to cross the border for freedom and moved to Ongjin, Southern West coast village near the border where the group islands sit and so that is easy to hide themselves. Around 2,700 South Korean villagers live under tight military defense at Hyeonnae, a township at the east coast of South Korea which consists of 10 villages along the border with North Korea. Working mostly at coastal fisheries and agriculture, around half the land in Hyeonnae is blockaded by the military due to security concerns with North Korea as the Korean Peninsula remains technically at war and the 3-year conflict ended in an armistice but not a peace treaty. Hyeonnae was under control by the DPRK until 1954, a year after both North and South Korea ceased fire, as many of the residents in Hyeonnae cautiously awaits for the peace treaty to open gates into North Korea and South Korean President Moon Jae-in continues ongoing efforts in reducing military tensions and eliminate the danger of war. (Photo by Woohae Cho/Getty Images)