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Kijong-dong
Kijong-dong is reportedly a Potemkin village located in P'yŏnghwa-ri, Panmun-guyok, Kaesong Special City, North Korea, within the northern half of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Known in North Korea as Peace Village, it is widely referred to as 'Propaganda Village' by South Korean and Western media. Kijong-dong is one of two villages allowed to remain in the 4 km wide DMZ established under the 1953 Korean War armistice, the other being the South Korean village of Daeseong-dong.
The North Korean government claims that Kijong-dong houses a 200-family collective farm with amenities such as a child care center, schools, and a hospital. However, South Korea asserts that the village is uninhabited and was built in the 1950s for propaganda purposes to encourage South Korean defection and to accommodate DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) soldiers stationed near the border.
The village features brightly painted, multi-story buildings and apartments, apparently wired for electricity, oriented to display their bright blue roofs and white sides prominently from the South. Close inspection reveals these buildings to be mere concrete shells lacking windows or interior rooms, with lights turned on and off at set times and sidewalks swept by caretakers to maintain an illusion of activity.
Surrounded by cultivated fields visible from the DMZ, Kijong-dong is equipped with massive loudspeakers that deliver DPRK propaganda broadcasts directed at the South. Initially, these broadcasts praised North Korea and encouraged defection. As South Korea's economy grew in the 1960s and 1970s, the broadcasts shifted to anti-Western speeches, agitprop operas, and patriotic music for up to 20 hours a day. From 2004 to 2016, both Koreas agreed to stop their loudspeaker broadcasts, but they resumed in 2016 after increased tensions following a North Korean nuclear test. On April 23, 2018, North and South Korea officially canceled their border propaganda broadcasts.
Type of Data Point - Basic Data Point - Source Wikipedia
Visit page of City/Town - Kijong-dong
Inserted: 06-08-2024 17:08:11
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What amenities does the North Korean government claim are present in Kijong-dong?
What has close inspection revealed about the buildings in Kijong-dong?
What is Kijong-dong commonly referred to as by South Korean and Western media?
What is the South Korean assertion about the true nature of Kijong-dong?
What type of broadcasts are delivered from Kijong-dong's loudspeakers?
What unique architectural features are notable in Kijong-dong?
When did North and South Korea officially cancel their border propaganda broadcasts related to Kijong-dong?
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Contexts related to this Data Point
Cities - Villages and Towns in North Korea
Traveling along the Korean Demilitarized Zone
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Credits: Don Sutherland, U.S. Air Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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