Also maybe a DMZ makes a great nature reserve, untouched by human activity.

This is a beautiful example of a Hyangga. You, sir, know your classical Korean poetry. Bravo!

  何為吞蠅  
  蠅永同音一
  化驚腸內舞  

  雙義笑開顏  
  歸路際無定  
  蠅永同音一

  What is this “swallowing flies”?
  “Fly” and “shadow” share the same voice, always.
  In a flash it’s startled -- inside it dances like starlight.

  The double pun draws us to smile.
  Homeward the light finds no single course.
  “Fly” and “shadow” -- one and the same sound.

  燕過非武裝地帶  
  鐵雲如網隔青川  
  碧波照影尋舊隱  
  長空一點寫歸年  

  寥寥邊聲人未到  
  惟有飛羽訴和平  

  Barn swallows slip over the de-armed border.  
  Iron-barbed clouds fence off jade riverbanks.  
  Green waters cast their shapes -- seeking the homes of memory.  
  A lone dot in endless blue writes our season of homecoming.  

  At the silent frontier no footsteps fall.  
  Yet wings alone carry the plea for peace.

I just hope she doesn’t swallow a spider to catch that fly.

It looks like it is too much to ask for some people to read the article before commenting. I wonder why they do this, are they being paid to comment? Are they bots?

Swallows, not sparrows. (Or did you also not read the article?)

I came for the birds, stayed for the metaphor.

Some comments can go either way. I only see one that really looks like they didn't read the article. Top level subtweeting seems like a bit much for that.

Lol! Got it all backwards like the whole of nk.

Let me fact check on my etch-a-sketch…

Yep, water still flows downhill.

At face value, ignoring its role as a metaphor, it doesn't make sense - it's literally the opposite of what's happening.

When you mix salt water and freshwater together, you don't get more freshwater - you turn freshwater into salt water. Replace "fresh" with "clean" and "salt" with "dirty" to make it more obvious.

Yeah there's an SK village inside the DMZ, I had lunch there last year on a tour. It's both wild and utterly unremarkable at the same time. There's a high fence around it, and you're warned not to go over that fence as there are land mines around it (as if someone would climb a, what, 2.5m fence while on a tourist tour?). The thing I found most remarkable is that house prices there are not much less than in Seoul proper (that's what I was told at least), which just seemed utterly absurd - what market forces could drive prices of a farmer village (because that's what it is, really - although the houses looked nice) surrounded by landmines and that is a pain in the ass to get in and out of to that of a first world metropolis? And although one after the other bus with tourists drove into the small parking lot, there was only a canteen for lunch (with canteen quality food) and a souvenir shop that is described at best as 'functional'.