Anti-tank obstacles are a common sight in South Korea. They consist of huge reinforced concrete, steel or rock pre-staged blocks weighing several tons resting on pillars packed with explosives that can be detonated in the event of a North Korean invasion, blocking the way for armored vehicles. Another variety are “dragon’s teeth,” reinforced concrete obstacles shaped like pyramids, cylinders or spikes that were first used in Europe during World War II. They form a dense network of passive defenses that stretch far beyond the border, extending deep into South Korean territory.

Incidentally, these facilities also sometimes serve as an advertising medium, mainly for the South Korean military. Some have been decorated with fantasy. Most retain their purely military character.

The fear of tanks is a legacy of the trauma caused when hundreds of North Korean Soviet-made T-34 rolled into Seoul at the start of the Korean War in 1950, destroying everything in their path (for their part, the North Koreans, traumatized by the rains of American bombs that reduced most of their cities to rubble, are obsessed with building air-raid shelters and digging tunnels).

In addition to anti-tank obstacles, there are thousands of kilometers of barbed wire fences and other fortifications along the border and coastline of Korea, often three or four layers thick, or even more, to prevent any invasion or infiltration. South Korea began to seal its border tightly in the late 1960s when armed incidents and infiltrations (the craziest and bloodiest of which remains that of January 21, 1967) began to spiral out of control.

This Korean version of the “Iron Curtain” is even more impenetrable than its former European counterpart and, unlike the latter, can never be crossed without risking death. Border barriers are now so much a part of the landscape in South Korea that it is difficult to imagine that once upon a time, long ago, they did not exist.

This post was last updated on : September 7, 2025