Movie set recreates Panmunjom zone where Kim Jong Un met Moon Jae-in
NAMYANGJU, South Korea -- Tech-savvy, social network users are flocking to a popular filming site on the outskirts of Seoul to take photos at a replica of the border spot where North and South Korean leaders shook hands last month.
Just 30 miles southeast from the real truce village of Panmunjom, KOFIC Namyangju Studio has built a replica of the joint security area, complete with the iconic blue container structures and the demarcation line, for film-making purposes in 1998.
More than 30 percent of Korean movies are shot at this outdoor film studio built on 330 acres of land in Gyeonggi province. In addition to the Panmunjom set, replicas of numerous other historic assets are offered for the film industry.
The award-winning mystery thriller movie "J.S.A: Joint Security Area" was also made here, starring Lee Byung-hun and directed by Park Chan-wook, a story of an investigation into a fatal shooting incident inside the heavily fortified border's demilitarized zone or DMZ.
"It looks exactly the same as the real Panmunjom. It looks so identical that I even asked my teacher if we were at Panmunjom," Kang Ju Hee, a 16-year-old student on a school trip, told ABC News.
“The moment of the two leaders shaking hands touched my heart. I hope the peace mood will last long,” another student, James Jang, told ABC News.
The real Panmunjom at the border allows tourists, but only once or twice per week and there is a maximum quota of visitors. The official tour is fully booked for the next six months, showing a surge after the inter-Korean summit. The procedure to visit is complicated and heavily restricted.
But the Namyangju Studio's Panmunjom movie set gives tourists an opportunity for Instagram-worthy photos and social media posts, unlike the actual Panmunjom where tourists can only get a glimpse of the handshake area from afar or from inside the blue huddles looking out the window. Visitors to the KOFIC Namyangju Studio could physically stand between the demarcation line, just like Moon and Kim did, and freely take photos.
"Before the inter-Korean summit I thought Kim Jong Un was a rude, authoritarian ruler, but after the summit he broke my prejudices making me think that he is a person like us who at time smiles," said a high school student Hwang Song Joon who was playing the role of South Korean President for photos while his chubbier school friend pretended to be Kim Jong Un.
A recent poll from South Korea's MBC TV, asking whether Kim is trustworthy, showed 78 percent of South Koreans responded positively.
The studio is open to the public to commemorate the historic summit throughout the month of May, before closing down at the end of the month. Admission is free.
Additional tour sites include the Film Culture Museum where students can learn about the development of films as well as the basic principles of films, the cinema theater that shows a Korean film monthly for free and also a miniature exhibition hall showing a 3D animation movie and the process of filming.
ABC News' Jiweon Park and Jaesang Lee contributed to this report.
