Along the world’s most dangerous border

Korean Demilitarized Zone, a 250-mile long thin sliver of land that separates North and South Korea, is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. Soldiers from both the nations bristle at the sight of each other: the air is so thick with tension one can almost touch it. Battle-ready and trigger-happy, the heavily armed troops are primed to go into battle at the drop of a hat even as nuclear-powered North bares its fangs at South even as the latter hosts the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul. Apart from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, US President Barack Obama too attended the summit, which unfortunately adopted a vague communiqué suggesting the renunciation of highly enriched fuel. It aims at non-proliferation, but will lead to the intense competition for new N-technology. And amidst all the tension and the flexing of muscle, Obama visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the world’s most dangerous place.