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DMZ Peace Trails open to hikers in Korea (14 images)

Tourists hike along the DMZ Peace Trail in Goseong, South Korea, on Friday. Parts of the demilitarized zone were opened for tourism in April. A second trail, in Cheorwon, opened at the beginning of June, and a third is slated for Paju in the western part of the country.



A tourist hangs a message of peace on a "hope tree" along the DMZ Peace Trail. Visitors can hang plastic "leaves" with messages on the tree. One message, addressed to a father and grandfather, read: "Now that I'm at the DMZ, I'm hoping for reunification. Rest in peace." Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
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A group of tourists wait to start a tour of the Peace Trail. Roughly 20 tourists can visit on guided tours six days a week. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
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A mother takes a photo of her daughter on Mount Kumgang Observatory with North Korea in the background. Mount Kumgang was opened for about a decade to South Koreans, but access was shut down in 2008 after a tourist was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier there. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
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A heavily fortified gate blocks the road from the Peace Trail to Mount Kumgang in North Korea. An impasse in negotiations between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang's nuclear program has kept international sanctions firmly in place, preventing most economic cooperation with the North. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI
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