STORY: Yoon Seol-hyun’s guesthouse near the border with North Korea is usually packed with tourists, keen to take a peek at the isolated North.

But he and other residents of the South Korean town of Paju, some 22 miles from the frontier, have been hurt by a recent rise in tensions on the peninsula.

Yoon’s accommodation and travel agency lie along a tourism hiking route exploring parts of the Demilitarized Zone

“It’s severe. It’s not just me, I’m just running a small-scale business, and most people in the region are involved in agriculture. However, there are many people here who work in businesses related to DMZ peace tourism. Essentially, the number of tourists has recently decreased.”

North Korea sent hundreds of balloons carrying trash and excrement across the heavily fortified border last week, sparking emergency alerts and round-the-clock media coverage in its neighbor.

The South responded by resuming military activities along the demarcation line.

Seoul has not ruled out the return of loudspeakers to blast propaganda at the border with the North.

For residents of Paju, it was a frightening escalation.

“In the past, even when there were things like armoured vehicle mobility training in the fields, people used to just think of it as training. But now, there’s a heightened sensitivity, wondering if there might be an accident or some incident occurring.”

:: October 10, 2014

Activists have flown balloons full of anti-North Korea leaflets from Paju across the border, sparking tensions with local residents who tried to stop them.

North Korean defector and activist Park Sang-hak has vowed to keep sending the balloons.

No Hyun-ki another resident of Paju, described it as “the tensest city.”

“Loudspeakers could be reinstalled, right? Then there’s a sense of fear that North Korea might fire artillery towards this area, and that their shells could come flying towards this place.”

The two Koreas remain technically at war since an armistice agreement ended fighting in the early 50s.

Their militaries face off across the border.

North Korea has deployed missiles and rockets aimed at the South and routinely threatens to annihilate its neighbor.