SEOUL - The road that leads to the Dragon Moors, an alpine wetland, is a rutted two-track lane that goes past a rainbow-trout farm fed by a rushing cold-water creek. The dirt road winds its way up the forested valley and, judging from a tour map provided by Inje county and a store-bought driving atlas, it is accessible to the general public.

The road gets narrower and is lined with brush. A rock bashes the undercarriage of the car and the driver curses viciously in both English and Korean, and then a weathered sign appears. "No entrance," it reads, and states that if one wants to visit the area, one must receive official permission.

Entering without permission could lead to a 200,000 won (US$212) fine. You wouldn't know it from the maps, but the Dragon Moor is within the Mintongseon, or the Civilian Control Zone of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

The DMZ is the world's most heavily fortified border, with 1.2 million land mines on the South Korean side and thousands of soldiers facing each other across mountain valleys. The DMZ is composed of multiple parallel lines; some are invisible, and others are chain-link fences crowned with concertina wire. The boundaries are real, but they are left unmarked on maps produced in South Korea.

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Copyright © James Card.