When North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash over the border to South Korea last week, the move sparked emergency alerts and round-the-clock media coverage in its neighbor. For residents of the town of Paju, near the border, it represented a worrying rise in tensions. - REUTERS
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00:00Yoon Seol Hyun's guesthouse near the border with North Korea is usually packed with tourists,
00:06keen to take a peek at the isolated North.
00:10But he and other residents of the South Korean town of Paju, some 22 miles from the frontier,
00:15have been hurt by a recent rise in tensions on the peninsula.
00:19Yoon's accommodation and travel agency lie along a tourism hiking route exploring parts
00:23of the demilitarized zone.
00:25It's severe.
00:29It's not just me.
00:30I'm just running a small-scale business, and most people in the region are involved in
00:34agriculture.
00:36However, there are many people who work in businesses related to DMZ peace tourism.
00:41Essentially, the number of tourists has recently decreased.
00:47North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified
00:52border last week, sparking emergency alerts and round-the-clock media coverage in its
00:56neighbor.
00:58The South responded by resuming military activities along the demarcation line.
01:03Seoul has not ruled out the return of loudspeakers to blast propaganda at the border with the
01:07North.
01:09For residents of Paju, it was a frightening escalation.
01:12In the past, even when there were things like armored vehicle mobility training in the fields,
01:18people used to just think of it as training.
01:21But now, there's a heightened sensitivity, wondering if there might be an accident or
01:26some incident occurring.
01:31Activists have flown balloons full of anti-North Korea leaflets from Paju across the border,
01:36sparking tensions with local residents who tried to stop them.
01:41North Korean defector and activist Park Sang-hak has vowed to keep sending the balloons.
01:46Noh Hyun-ki, another resident of Paju, described it as the tensest city.
01:52Loudspeakers could be reinstalled, right?
01:56Then there's a sense of fear that North Korea might fire artillery towards this area and
02:03that their shells could come flying towards this place.
02:08The two Koreas remain technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the
02:12early 50s.
02:14Their militaries face off across the border.
02:17North Korea has deployed missiles and rockets aimed at the South and routinely threatens
02:21to annihilate its neighbor.