Resources

A very short selection of films, books and other documents on the division of Korea that I have ve personally enjoyed (or not) or which I have used to find places to photograph along the border or to cross-check information given to me in the field.

DMZ, by Park Jongwoo

A reference, a bedside book, the fruit of three years’ work by South Korean photographer Park Jong-woo, who was commissioned by the Ministry of Defense from 2009 to 2012 to document the DMZ for its 60th anniversary. The landscape and situation have changed a great deal since it was first published, but it remains a stunningly beautiful and exceptional historical document.

BUY

Imjin River, by Park Jongwoo

By the same author as the previous book on the DMZ. This one is a photographic work on the Imjin River, which rises in North Korea, passes into South Korea before forming the border between the two countries, merging with the Han River and flowing into the Yellow Sea. “No other divided river like the Imjin River flows with national sorrow in this divided country”, Park writes.

BUY

Whispers of the DMZ, by Park Eun-jin

A comprehensive guide to the DMZ and its surroundings, covering a wide range of features such as geography, ecology, cultural heritages, the lives of the people inside the border area, legal issues and regional planning policies. This 315-page book was published in 2013 for the 60th anniversary of the DMZ. Unfortunately, I only discovered its existence at the end of my project, as it is not very well known nowadays. But to my knowledge, this is the most comprehensive and well-thought-out English-language work on the subject, and remains largely relevant even more than a decade after its publication.

BUY

The DMZ, by Barry Welch

A concise, illustrated introduction to the Korean Division. As part of the Korea Essentials series by the Korea Foundation, the book offers historical context on the Korean War and the 1953 armistice that created the DMZ, while also exploring the political and symbolic weight the border continues to carry today.

BUY

Joint Security Area

The first masterpiece from Park Chan-wook, the director of Old Boy and Decision to Leave. Released in 2000, Joint Security Area has not aged a day over a quarter of a century later and remains a cult film. The movie is set in the DMZ and revolves around a fatal shooting incident involving soldiers from South and North Korea, which leads the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission to investigate and gradually unveil the unexpected truth. Disconcertingly constructed, like a jigsaw puzzle whose pieces are gradually pieced together by dint of flashbacks, this monument to subtlety and emotion was a huge commercial success in South Korea when it was released. A DVD of the movie was presented to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Il by South Korea’s President Roh Moo-hyun during a rare summit in October 2007 in Pyongyang.

GO TO IMDB

DMZ : The Unfinished War

Full title: DMZ Documentary – 60th Anniversary of the Korean Armistice: The Unfinished War (정전 60년 특집 [다큐멘터리 DMZ]). A huge four-part, three-hour documentary released by South Korean public broadcaster KBS in 2013 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Armistice. Unfortunately inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t understand Korean.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE (Korean Only)

Another fascinating KBS documentary released in 2019, when relations between the two Koreas were undergoing an upturn and military personnel from both sides were meeting in the DMZ to reduce tensions, is available on YouTube here.

Abai Village :

• Meet the North Koreans who haven’t been able to return home in over 70 years (photo essay by Hannah Yoon, NPR, 2024)

Armistice agreement :

• Armistice agreement original text and maps (downloads via the NNSC website. Warning: data heavy but this is the only place online where you can find the maps).
• Armistice agreement text online (United States National Archives).

Blue House Raid :

• Failed North Korean Assassin Assimilates in the South (New York Times, 2010)
• Kim Shin-jo, 82, Failed North Korean Assassin, Dies as Pastor in the South (New York Times, 2025)
• In the Shadow of Vietnam: A New Look at North Korean Military Strategy (1962-1970) (article by Balázs Szalonta, Journal of Cold War Studies, 2012)

Cheorwon :

• A Place of Memory: The Ruins of the Korean Workers’ Party Headquarters, Cheorwon (article by Eunyoung Park, Korea Journal, 2023)

Environment in the DMZ :

• From war zone to biosphere reserve: the Korean DMZ as a scientific landscape (artile by Lisa M. Brady, The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science, 2020)
• Malaria Incidence of the Regions Adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, 2004–2016 (Journal of Korean Medical Science, 2019)

Human Rights in North Korea :

• The Report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (2014)
• Marked for Life: Songbun, North Korea’s Social Classification System (report by The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2012)

Incheon Airport :

• North Korean Non-kinetic Attacks: A Problem for Incheon Airport (article by Yoon Suk-joon, 38 North, 2024)

Infiltration tunnels :

• North Korea Has a Secret Weapon: Tunnels, Lots of Tunnels (article by Sebastien Robin, The National Interest, February 2020)
• Republic of Korea’s Defence White Paper 1990

Joint Security Area :

• ‘Lord Commander’ of the DMZ Has Seen It All on the Korean Frontier (New York Times, 2023)

Landmines :

• Toward an Anthropology of Landmines: Rogue Infrastructure and Military Waste in the Korean DMZ (by Eleana J. Kim, Cultural Anthropology, 2015).

Maritime Boundary :

• The Maritime Boundary between North & South Korea in the Yellow (West) Sea (by Jon Van Dyke, 38 North, 2010)
• The Korean Armistice and the Islands (by Col. Moo Bong Ryoo, U.S. Army War College, 2011)
• Between a Rock and a Grey Zone: China-ROK Illegal Fishing Disputes  (by Lisa Collins, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, 2016)
• Investigation Result on the Sinking of ROKS Cheonan (press Summary by The Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group, 2010)

Psychological Warfare :

• North Korean Propaganda: The Beauty Tactic (by Lee Jae-eun, The SIAS Review of International Affairs, 2018)
• North Korea Has Scored a Major Victory in the Battle Against Information (by Martyn Williams, 38 North, 2025).

DMZ

An official website about the DMZ managed by the border province of Gyeonggi (history, tourist attractions, events, etc.). In Korean with a small section in English.

LINK

DMZ Project on Google Arts & Culture

A multimedia project on the DMZ through the lens of history, nature, and art, launched by the South Korean Government in 2023 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Armistice.

LINK