Korean Wall

The Korean wall is a concrete barrier allegedly built along the length of the DMZ in South Korea between 1977 and 1979. The nature of the barrier is disputed.

North Korea contends that "In the area south of the Military Demarcation Line, which cuts across our country at its waist, there is a concrete wall which...stretches more than 240 km (150 mi) from east to west, is five to eight meters (16 to 26 ft) high, 10 to 19 m (32 to 62 ft) thick at the bottom, and 3 to 7 m (10 to 23 ft) wide in the upper part. It is set with wire entanglements and dotted with gun embrasures, look-outs and varieties of military establishments....the South Korean rulers built this wall over a period of many years from 1977. They consumed over 800,000 tons of cement, over 200,000 tons of steel, and over 3.5 million cubic meters (123.6 million cu ft) of gravel and sand...".

The south side of the wall is packed with earth, which permits access to the top of the wall and makes it effectively invisible from the south side. North Korea claims that the US constructed the wall to humiliate and divide the Korean people, similar to the Berlin Wall, and to serve as a bridgehead for northward invasion. Sceptics contend that if the wall does exist, and built as described by North Korea, in would be unsuitable for use as a bridgehead, as any vehicles attempting a crossing from the south would fall five to eight meters (16 to 26 ft) and become damaged and useless. It is more likely that the wall, if it exists, is a barrier to complicate any possible North Korean invasion and to inhibit any further infiltrations by North Korean soldiers.

According to the United States Government, the wall as described does not exist, although there are shorter anti-tank barriers along portions of the DMZ.

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