North and South Korean soldiers face each other in the village of Panmunjom, a cluster of blue huts inside the 2.5-mile-wide, 156-mile-long buffer strip. About 200 US troops are also stationed along the DMZ.
The DMZ is one of the world's most potentially dangerous flashpoints, but Panmunjom is also a tourist trap where buses disgorge thousands of visitors each year who come to gawk at the North Korean soldiers. The village is jointly overseen by the US-led UN Command and North Korea, an arrangement established in 1953 to supervise the cease-fire that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
North Korean troops were not seen engaging in provocative antics during the reporters' tour.
Seven North Korean soldiers, wearing olive green uniforms and tall, round-brimmed hats, guarded UN buildings where meetings between the two sides are sometimes held. South Korean soldiers in black helmets and sunglasses stood in their traditional pose: legs wide apart in a martial-arts stance with arms at their sides, fists tightly clenched and ready to strike.
At one point, two North Korean officers marched to the line and faced a large group of TV cameramen and photographers. They stood for about 10 minutes, staring blankly at the cameras, before marching away.
About 20 minutes later, the officers returned with the soldiers, who marched behind them, swinging their arms high across their body in unison. They had a brief meeting with their US and UN counterparts at the demarcation line.
US Navy Lieutenant Commander Chris Dignan told reporters the meeting was about repatriating the body of a North Korean soldier who washed up in the South's territorial waters last month. Officials did not give the cause of his death, but DeVarona said bodies routinely are found after flooding in the North.
