Patrons at Starbucks’ newest location must undergo a security check before receiving their orders.
Starbucks has opened a cafe overlooking the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), offering customers a unique view of North Korea while they enjoy their drinks.
The cafe, opened Friday in Gimpo city’s Aegibong Peace Ecopark, approximately 32 kilometers north of Seoul, provides a terrace view across a section of the Han River into the North Korean town of Kaephung, just over a kilometer away.
Reuters reported that, on clear days, visitors can use telescopes to observe daily life in North Korea across the world’s most heavily fortified border.
The Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty. This armistice divided the Korean Peninsula along the 38th parallel, separating the communist North from the capitalist South via the 4km-wide DMZ. Both sides maintain extensive fortifications, and North Korea is believed to have over 10,000 artillery pieces positioned along its border, including those in the mountains near Kaephung.
According to a 2020 report by the US military-funded RAND Corporation, around 6,000 of these guns can reach major South Korean population centers. The report estimated that a conflict could result in over 205,000 casualties in Seoul, Incheon, Gimpo, and other South Korean cities within the first hour.
The Aegibong Peace Ecopark is located on the site of ‘Hill 154’, a fiercely contested area during the Korean War. Due to its proximity to the DMZ, visitors must complete an entry form and undergo a background check by the Korean Marine Corps.
Gimpo’s mayor stated that Starbucks’ presence in the DMZ showcases South Korea’s strength, signifying “robust security on the Korean Peninsula through the presence of this iconic capitalist brand.”
The cafe’s opening coincides with heightened tensions. Earlier this year, Pyongyang launched trash-filled balloons into Gimpo and Seoul, retaliating against South Korean propaganda leaflets dropped into North Korea. North Korea subsequently announced its border artillery units were on standby to “open fire,” before allegedly severing roads leading to South Korea last month.
Pyongyang claims these road closures are a response to South Korean drone flights over its airspace and recent joint US-South Korean military exercises, which the North Korean Foreign Ministry called “provocative war drills for aggression.”