Propaganda Village

dvn2r ckr in view of the Propaganda Village!

Why am I smiling? Because I'm on THIS side of the border! The free side! The side far removed, yet so close, to the Propaganda Village, the North Korean village of Kijong-dong. Up until recently this village was home to the 'all out assault' against us--imperial capitalist pigs. A psychological operation of sorts, involving gigantic loudspeakers spewing all sorts of comments encouraging South Koreans to head North and lauding the wisdom and glory of Kim Jong-Il. The South Koreans also had their loudspeakers. Blaring classic rock music. The louder, the better! I presume, since the 'stereo war' is no longer ongoing, that the South won. Imperialist, capitalist rock music never fails!!! The ensuing recent silence must be deafening to the North. Perhaps, music to the ears of the few South Korean residents of the farming community within the Joint Security Area. I assume they relish this 'quiet' ever since the propaganda broadcasts stopped a couple of months ago.

Another interesting thing to note on this picture is the 160m high flagpole waving the 30m long, 600 pound North Korean flag way back in the distance to the left of me. You see, the South Koreans have a similar flagpole not much further to the South--when they installed their 100m tall flagpole it eclipsed the height of the original North Korean flagpole. Not to be outdone, the North soon installed their 160m tall pole--eclipsing, by far, the flagpole of the South. The South stopped playing the 'game'--and their flag still flies proudly to this day--all 1oom height of it.

This little game of petty 'one-upmanship' was a recurring theme throughout the day. From buildings to guardtowers to loudspeakers to you name it, if one side had something of significant stature the other side would strive to outdo it.