Two versions of the environment: how nature fares in North Korea – Knowledge

Barbed wire fences begin soon after Seoul, and Bernhard Seliger knows why. “Because of the spies from North Korea,” says the representative of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation in Korea, as he steers the car north on the freeway deeper into the outskirts of the South Korean capital. Behind the thorny rolls of the fence, the Hangang glistens on the right in the February sun, on the other bank of the wide river you can see the thinning high-rise forest of the metropolitan area. “In the past, mini-submarines drove into the river and dropped off agents,” says Seliger. Today, the fences mainly keep inconsiderate consumers away. “Without the fences, this would quickly become littered.” The cold war in Korea also has its environmentally friendly sides.