The Unique Life of a Honeybee Farmer Near the DMZ

Cho Seong-hoan’s father often remarked that the honeybees on their farm were fortunate creatures. Unlike the majority of South Koreans, these bees had the rare ability to traverse into North Korea, a privilege Mr. Cho himself experienced before the Korean War split the peninsula in two. “I also really envy them,” Mr. Cho, 59, expressed during a hot summer morning, surrounded by the gentle hum of bees on the family farm he inherited following his father’s passing in 2022. He sat merely half a mile away from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a 155-mile-long stretch that divides the two Koreas, fraught with landmines and fortified by barbed-wire fences.

Mr. Cho is among approximately two dozen South Korean honeybee farmers who operate within a six-mile-wide mosaic of rice fields, dense forests, solemn graveyards, and active firing ranges adjacent to the 71-year-old DMZ. This region, known as the Civilian Control Zone, is heavily militarized and off-limits to most civilians, creating a unique environment for these farmers.

While the work may not yield substantial wealth, the honey produced is exceptional, largely due to the area’s remarkable biodiversity. The flowers and plants that flourish in this unique ecosystem contribute to a flavor profile that is both rich and diverse.

Many of these farmers are driven by reasons that extend beyond mere profit. In a nation where a 1953 armistice has left countless Korean families divided for generations, they are striving for a sense of closure regarding the wartime traumas that have persisted through the years.