For the first time in more than two years, delegates from North and South Korea are meeting in what former US President Bill Clinton once called "the scariest place on Earth".
The village of Panmunjom sits within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and serves as a venue for dialogue whenever relations between the two countries thaw.
Delegates are currently holding a series of meetings in Panmunjom's Peace House sparked by the North's offer to send a delegation to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Source: AFP
But when the delegates go home, Panmunjom will return to its bizarre business as usual.
Soldiers face-off
In 1953, Panmunjom was the site where an armistice suspending the Korean War was signed - and its importance has not diminished since.
The village remains the only location along the 250km DMZ the where soldiers from both North and South meet face-to-face, positioned just metres away from each other, 365 days a year.
A South Korean soldier looks at a North Korean soldier at Panmunjom. Source: EPA
The nexus of the so-called 'truce village' is a line of conference buildings, some of which the borderline actually passes through.
It's also the location of a dedicated cross-border hotline for communication between the North and South that was established in 1971. The hotline was shut down during a dispute between the two rivals in 2016 but reopened at the start of this year.
The Panmunjom hotline was reopened earlier this year. Source: AP
And unsurprisingly, Panmunjom has witnessed a number of dramatic incidents over the years.
There were fears of another full-scale conflict in 1976 after a group of North Korean troops axed to death two American soldiers who were trimming a nearby tree.
In 1984, a Russian student from Moscow fled from North to South and triggered a 30-minute gun battle that left four people dead - although he was unhurt.
A North Korean soldier photographs US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson at Panmunjom. Source: AP
And just last November, a North Korean soldier dashed across the border in an extremely rare and dramatic defection. Fellow soldiers fired at least 40 rounds in an effort to kill him.
US presidents visiting South Korea have often diverted to Panmunjom. Barack Obama visited in 2012, George W. Bush in 2002, Bill Clinton in 1993 and Ronald Reagan in 1983.
Bad weather forced Donald Trump to call off a surprise trip there in November - after his office earlier labelled such visits a "cliche".
'Loved my trip here'
But - bizarrely - the site has also become an attraction for visiting foreigners. It has an impressive four-and-a-half star rating on TripAdvisor.
Isaac Stone Fish, a senior fellow at the Asia Society in New York, told US radio network PRI that nowadays both sides use Panmunjom "as a propaganda tool to show how much better their way of life is than the other side".
Mr Stone Fish said the South – where most if not all international visitors arrive at the site – "wants to show just how dangerous (the North) is and how they're protecting their country."
Tourists can peer into North Korea from Panmunjom. Source: Getty
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Tourists on the southern side are warned not to antagonise North Korean soldiers before briefly walking across both Koreas.
"I just loved my trip here," wrote one reviewer on Tripadvisor. "There is a slight tension in the air which is definitely helped by the soldiers who accompany you."
Another visitor commented: "You can see the other side and feel quite weird as they can invade at any time".
- Additional reporting: AFP
