Stretching 155 miles (250km) across the peninsula and 2.4 miles wide, the DMZ is anything but demilitarised. It remains one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders, strewn with landmines and flanked by military installations on both sides.

Yet, in the 72 years since the war ended, this forbidden strip has become an accidental ecological paradise.

South Korea’s National Institute of Ecology has documented nearly 6,000 species here, including more than 100 endangered species – representing more than a third of South Korea’s threatened wildlife.

The zone’s varied terrain creates distinct habitats: the wetlands of the western sector shelter migrating cranes, while the rugged eastern mountains provide sanctuary for some of the country’s most threatened mammals, including Siberian musk deer and Asiatic black bears.