Korea is the only country in the world in the state of ceasefire. South Korea and North Korea have confronted each other for the past six decades over the 248-kilometer-long and 4-kilometer-wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two sides. Outsiders may be nervous about the situation, but there are South Koreans living near the armistice line who go about their daily lives without fear or apprehension.

The country's division has given rise to many unique situations. Fishermen of the northernmost port on the east coast work under the protection of the South Korean Navy, and a village of North Korean refugees has become a popular tourist destination known for its North Korean cuisine. A bustling town deep in the mountains provides a free and happy break for soldiers from nearby bases, and a village located in the bloodiest battleground of the Korean War is inhabited by hard-working farmers who turned mine fields into fertile farmlands. Also, the security tourism program that takes tourists over the Civilian Control Line to the DMZ gives people a chance to think about war and peace.

Magnum Photos member Gueorgui Pinkhassov, famous for elevating photography to abstract art, documents the sights along the DMZ and the lives of feisty people living near it.

Gueorgui Pinkassov / Magnum Photos member, Photographer, russia