Feature: After summit, border line on DPRK side hopes for winds of change

PYONGYANG, April 28 (Xinhua) -- On the southern side of the Taedong River stands a towering white arch, the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification.

The 30-meter, highly symbolic monument features two women, who stand for the two Koreas, jointly holding up a sphere bearing the map of a reunified Korea.

Under this mammoth arch, there is little traffic on the highway leading to the truce village of Panmunjom on the military line of demarcation (MLD) about 170 km away.

Economic cooperation between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea ceased after Seoul in 2016 shut down an industrial park in Kaesong, a DPRK border city near Panmunjom.

Kaesong, an ancient capital of the Koryo Kingdom, the first unified state on the peninsula, is also home to the famous "insam" or ginseng, one of the most popular souvenirs for foreign tourists visiting the DPRK.

After a three-hour drive south along the highway dotted by numerous military checkpoints, journalists covering the recently-concluded historic inter-Korean summit reached Kaesong, where 70 percent of the population have relatives living in the south. One-fourth of them are said to have their spouses or siblings, separated from them by the 1950-53 Korean War, now living in the south.

The movement of foreign tourists is restricted to a couple of attractions kept open for them and one can feel the tension emanating from the demilitarized zone a dozen kilometers away.

A woman guard stood outside a stamp shop. She instructed the local people passing by to move quickly and not talk with the group of foreign tourists buying stamps inside.

The city is also home to a large cemetery of Chinese soldiers fallen in the Korean War. They were members of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army who joined the DPRK side in the war.

With the leaders of the DPRK and South Korea making a joint declaration for peace on the peninsula, the locals are hopeful of a historic change on the horizon.

An 80-year-old, who identified himself only as Park, said he was touched when he learned about the summit between DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday.

"Our supreme leader has shown great audacity and resolve to the world by stepping across the MLD, for the first time," he said.

Near the cemetery is the confluence of the Rimjin and Han rivers, from where the two flow into the Yellow Sea. Along the Rimjin lies an ancient ruined ferry dock. Before the Korean War, ferries used to carry passengers from Kaesong to Seoul.

Now, with inter-Korean relations turning from confrontation to peaceful co-existence and reconciliation, the restoration of the small dock after 65 years of abandonment is not a dream any more. Enditem