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DMZ water coming to a Korean grocery store near you
With all the bottled water you'll find on grocery store shelves these days, any new player absolutely has to have a gimmick. There are just too many brands on the market. So, a company really does need to go the extra mile to stand out. That's probably why "DMZ 2km" is getting some media love.DMZ 2km is drawn from a plant in the southern half of the Korean peninsula's Demilitarized Zone, the 4 km border area that has split North Korea from South Korea for more than 50 years. On land, there is razor wire – and plenty of landmines. Soldiers walk patrols, and there's sometimes gunfire. Underneath all this is a spring that ultimately feeds the plastic bottles that consumers can buy for 600 won (50 cents) a pop.
The water bottle is adorned with a bird, which is representative of the wildlife that now lives in the DMZ, which hasn't had much human activity in half a century. More than 2,900 different plant species are estimated to live there, along with 70 mammals and 320 bird types.
Lee Sang-hyo, spokesman for Lotte Chilsung Beverage, tells Reuters, "We decided on water from the DMZ because it's different, and the environment there is untouched, so many people thinks it's clean." Fortunately, he continues, "Getting the water is not dangerous at all. We worked it all out with the military."
Gallery: Welcome to the DMZ
Gallery: The 10 most common foreign cities in which Americans are arrested
[Photo by Constantin B. via Flickr]
Filed under: Business, Food and Drink, Europe, North Korea, South Korea
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joe Jan 5th 2010 3:09PM
LOL...You people have no Idea what lurks in the ground in the DMZ. You eco-nuts, PLEASE, drink your fill of that water. That ground is teeming with chemicals and agents that would make your skin fall off. Sure there is wildlife there. It has mutated to accept that junk in its systems. You won't find that water in my house no matter HOW thirsty I get. I'm sure the US government will "TEST" for impurities then let you drink it. That way you won't be around long to sponge off the health care rolls
Joe Jan 5th 2010 4:58PM
Joe: You're a few years behind the times, my friend. "Eco-nuts"--in other words, the very people who began in the 1960s to raise awareness about water purity, chemicals, and genetic mutation and thus supplied you with the vocabulary to write your post--have not drunk bottled water in a long time. The people you criticize are nutty enough to believe that you and your grandchildren have the right to safe potable water straight from the tap and you won't find any person--or restauranteur--who cares deeply about our shared environment drinking water from a plastic container shipped hundreds or thousands of miles by boat. But perhaps you don't get out much.
I will agree with your first point, however. The U.S. military's use of chemical agents and heavy metals in fighting its unjust and paranoic war in Korea has left the environment damaged for generations. Too bad the Cold Warriors did not have as much concern for your grandchildren's health as the eco-nuts you disparage.
afton529 Jan 5th 2010 3:18PM
The DMZ water is not worth spending the money on. Of course AOL loves to engage in such nonsense by propelling massive hysteria and its ignorance when it comes to publishing articles trashing bottled water. I am staying by my traditional and familiar bottled water like Arrowhead and Crystal Gyser. I am not going to try DMZ water and am not going to be swayed by the misleading info designed to trap consumers into believing that their bottled water is superior, when in truth, it is just a marketing gimmick by people who want to make a quick profit.
fbbsgb23451 Jan 5th 2010 4:35PM
You said it yourself: "I...am not going to be swayed by the misleading info designed to trap consumers into believing that their bottled water is superior" - yet that's what you drink.
AB Jan 6th 2010 9:27PM
I have to laugh at all the people who think bottled water is so much better than the water you drink out of your faucet. Put a filter on your faucet. Yes there are impurities. If you knew all of the chemicals removed to and added to your bottled water you wouldn't drink it either. Just be thankful your water is as pure as it is. Boil it if you will. Bottled water is a waste of money unless your traveling. Even then you can bottle your own from your faucet before you leave home. Bottled water actually costs around 5 cents a bottle for the water or less in some cases. The rest of the cost is the machinery, chemicals, the bottle, the manufacturing costs, employees, benefits, and transportation, then the brand. I suppose you could feel good about that bottle of water you just bought thinking your keeping millions of people in a job.
Pogo Jan 5th 2010 3:56PM
There are only three valid reasons for drinking bottled water. 1.) The local tap water is unsafe. 2.) After water softening and filtering, your tap water at home still tastes like it came from a swamp. 3.) You're on the road and you're tired of drinking sodas from gas stations and fast food joints. A lot of people don't realize that most bottled water comes from municipal supplies and is just plain tap water. As far as hazardous chemicals, what do you think seeps out of the plastic bottles that bottled water comes in? How many thousands of years do you think it will take for that plastic bottle break down in a land fill? Last but not least, what is Evian spelled backwards?
Ron Fercken Jan 5th 2010 7:13PM
You're right, pogo...not that you need me to tell you thta. Good post!
AnimeCatLaury Jan 5th 2010 4:45PM
I'm just gonna continue to drink tap water screw water bottles lol
mary Jan 5th 2010 5:14PM
Well I won't buy any of that shi______!
Jack Jan 5th 2010 5:17PM
That's why I love to drink water from the garden hose, been doing it for years and years, and has that great taste, especially when it is hot and sunny outside to warm up the hose!! All the loons who think drinking Alhambra, Arrowhead, etc. from a bottle is suppose to be pure from the spring head, yeah right, this water is piped into their plant from the local utility company, then they run it through ozonation process, bombing the water with ultraviolet light, and vwalla, you have spring water!!
crod500 Jan 5th 2010 5:31PM
depending on where you live. you should filter your water just because of the chemicals the they put in like floride,clorine,etc etc
Larry Jan 5th 2010 5:51PM
Actually, the only safe bottled water in the world comes right out of the Hudson River, unprocessed and unfiltered. The little bits of "brown trout" and "tissue fish" add nice aromas to the water. And as for the bacteria, heck, they only make your stomach stronger. And if I can't get my Hudson River water, I settle for the stuff that comes right out of landfills. Yummy! You get a different taste every day! Try it...you'll like it!!!
Marie Jan 5th 2010 5:59PM
A good water filtration system on the tap, and a nice reusable container to fill up (a pitcher to keep some chilled in the fridge, and a good bottle to take with me to work that is not plastic) are my ideas of 'bottled water'. Unless on the road, I don't purchase any of the stuff regardless of where it is bottled.
The bottles fill up landfills, the plastics are often not recycled, and well - why PAY stupid amounts for water that just usually came from the tap from somewhere else anyway?
As far as DMZ water? Who knows what kind of stuff that ground water was contaminated with during the war. It hardly seems safe or responsible to sell that.
babbette44 Jan 5th 2010 6:09PM
Have you seen the movie, 'Cabin Fever'? You will not drink bottled water. HE HE
henry fraud Jan 5th 2010 6:16PM
lets start pissing upstream like they do in africa he he he
fsdk Jan 5th 2010 7:39PM
Bottled water is probably the biggest rip off any consumer could buy. I never buy bottled water cause all i need to do is find a sink or a waterfountain and fill my nalgene. Its idiotic to buy bottled water because the companies use the same springs that our tap water uses and think about it YOUR SPENDING MONEY ON WATER!
SomeCountryGirl Jan 5th 2010 6:37PM
Or you could drink well water. We drink well water at my house, and it is the best water I have ever tasted. Better than ANY of the bottled water junk that is completely disgusting in comparison to our well water. Hey! We should just bottle the delicious well water DIRECTLY from the source (no added chemicals and stuff), and all drink that instead. MUCH better for you!
Maria Jan 5th 2010 6:47PM
HAHAHAHAHAHA............good luck drinking that Depleted Uranium !!!!! Stupid, stupid people !!
Ron Fercken Jan 5th 2010 7:09PM
You're right, pogo...not that you need me to tell you that. Good post!
G.I. JOE Jan 5th 2010 7:44PM
I CAN'T WAIT FOR SOME GOOD OLD VETNAM WATER TO BE BOTTLED, OOOHH FOR THE TASTE OF THAT GOOD OLD AGENT ORANGE AN HUMAN WAST IN IT, JUST MIX WITH COOLAID AN DRINKER DOWN!