About 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Seoul, Tongilchon -- the name translates to "unification village" -- is one of a handful of settlements set up by the South Korean government in the 1970s.

The plan was for the villages to help the border areas recover from the devastation of the 1950-1953 Korean War, with the land allocated to former soldiers and people originally from the area but displaced by fighting.

Most residents are old. They have lived through the war, presidents from the hard-right military rulers of the 1970s-1980s and the dovish left-wing pro-engagement leaders of the 1990s-2000s.

When AFP visited the village of about 450 people days before South Korea was set to vote on June 3 for a new leader to replace disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol, the focus was on one thing.

"We live very close to the North, so we just hope relations improve and there's no war," 87-year-old Kwon Yeong-han told AFP.

The election could upend Seoul's policy towards the nuclear-armed North. The frontrunner, the Democratic Party's Lee Jae-myung, is likely to take a much more conciliatory tone towards Pyongyang than hardliner Yoon.

- 'Ghost sounds' -

From the square in front of the polling station, a giant North Korean flag atop a 160-metre-high (520-foot) pole on the other side of the border is clearly visible.

When tensions between the two Koreas rise -- as they did under Yoon -- life for Tongilchon residents gets significantly more difficult.

Under Yoon, activists in the South once again started floating balloons carrying propaganda, dollar bills and USB sticks of K-pop and K-drama into the North.

It infuriated Pyongyang and triggered a tit-for-tat exchange, where the North floated balloons carrying trash southwards.

As ties deteriorated, both sides switched on the loudspeakers along the border.

Residents of Tongilchon now have to listen to terrifying sounds worthy of a horror movie soundtrack -- screams and moans, which Pyongyang broadcasts at any time of day or night.

"It's just noise, like ghost sounds," village chief Lee Wan-bae, 73, told AFP.

"It keeps us awake, it makes working in the fields difficult."

South Korea blasts K-pop and news bulletins into the North in response, but the loudspeaker noise from Pyongyang is so disturbing that border residents have pleaded with parliament to make it stop.

Tongilchon is located in the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ), a restricted area next to the more famous Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) which separates the two Koreas.

The countries remain technically at war because the conflict ended with a truce and not a peace treaty.

At the elementary school, which is flanked by air raid sirens, only six of the students live in the CCZ, the rest are bussed in daily.

"We make a lot of efforts to keep the school going, such as offering programmes that others don't have and free extracurricular activities after school and during vacations," said vice-principal Jong Jae-hwa.

When the CCZ is sealed off due to North Korean military activity and the school bus suspended, it falls to the teachers to drive children home.

Rising tensions also hit tourism, which is a key source of revenue for the village. It sells its agricultural products as "DMZ rice" or "DMZ ginseng".

"Life is hard here. No matter who is elected president, what we just want is to live peacefully," said the village chief Lee.

- 'Very suspicious' -

Long-term resident Min Tae-seung, 85, said that life in Tongilchon is already much easier than it used to be.

"In the first few years after we moved here there were military threats and North Korean infiltration," he said.

He's planning to vote for the conservative party's Kim Moon-soo, the candidate of Yoon's ex-party and a hardliner against Pyongyang.

According to Min, South Korea's "progressives are too lenient toward North Korea".

"The conservative camp does not take North Korea lightly -- they remain very suspicious."

But whoever the next president is, he said: "I don't think inter-Korean relations will improve quickly.

"Of course it would be ideal to reconcile and move freely, but that seems a long way off."

His 45-year-old daughter has a different view.

"Living here, the desire for reunification has naturally become a central concern for me," she said.

"Even if reunification is not possible, I really hope we could see travel between the two countries. I would love for my parents to see that day come."

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While classified as a "special government employee" and "senior advisor to the president," the South African-born tycoon has left indelible marks on American politics as Trump's most visible backer.

- The 'Nazi' salute -

Being Trump's right-hand man took on a new meaning when the world's richest person made headlines by dramatically throwing out his arm -- twice -- at a rally celebrating Trump's January 20 inauguration.

Standing at a podium bearing the presidential seal, Musk's right arm was straight, his hand open, his palm facing down. Historians agreed with Democratic politicians that the sharp gesture looked exactly like a Nazi salute.

The Tesla boss -- whose electric vehicles were soon dubbed "swasticars" by critics -- dismissed the claims, posting on his X social media platform: "The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."

Whatever the display meant, Nazi-related jokes and memes dominated public reactions to the day meant to mark Trump's triumphant return to office.

- Endorsing Germany's extreme-right -

Hot off his salute shock, Musk participated virtually at a January rally for Germany's anti-immigration, ultra-nationalist AfD party.

Musk told the crowd "you really are the best hope" for Germany and urged them to be "proud of German culture and German values."

His endorsement of the AfD shook mainstream German parties, which said they viewed it as foreign interference by Trump's advisor. Vandals burned four Teslas in the streets of Berlin afterward.

Despite record gains at the polls, AfD ultimately took second place in the election behind Germany's conservatives.

- Brings kid to work -

Dressed down in MAGA hats and t-shirts, Musk became a near-constant presence in the White House. For a while, so did his four-year-old son named X.

During Musk's first appearance before reporters since his arrival in Washington to run DOGE, the child was trotted out and Trump said: "This is X and he's a great guy."

The boy was filmed picking his nose while his father boasted about his cost-cutting exploits while standing next to the Oval Office's Resolute Desk.

- Brings chainsaw to budget -

Unelected and unconfirmed by the Senate, Musk has repeatedly bashed the "unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy" and immediately made brutal cuts to the federal workforce and budget.

To illustrate his management style, Musk donned sunglasses and brandished a chainsaw on stage at a conservative get-together in Washington.

It was handed to him -- not turned on -- by right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei, who made the machine a symbol of slashing bureaucracy and state spending in his own country.

- Overshadowing Trump's cabinet -

At Trump's first cabinet meeting on February 26, Musk had a starring role even though he is not part of the cabinet. He stood looming near a doorway, wearing a t-shirt with the words "Tech Support" across the chest as the cabinet met.

Even without a literal seat at the table Musk, who helped bankroll Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, overshadowed the country's most powerful officials.

Trump downplayed this tension shortly before the meeting, posting on his social media platform: "ALL CABINET MEMBERS ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ELON."

- Trump the Tesla salesman -

With Musk's Tesla car company taking a battering on the stock market and sales dropping sharply, and with vandals targeting his brand, the White House hosted a highly publicized test drive to boost Tesla's reputation.

With a Tesla Cybertruck and a Model S parked on the South Portico, Trump and Musk mounted a sales pitch.

Trump even said he had purchased one.

The stunt didn't ultimately turn around Tesla's plummeting sales, with the electric vehicle maker reporting a 71 percent drop in first-quarter profits.

- Fails to sway court election -

Money can't buy you everything, Musk discovered, after pouring $25 million into the most expensive court race in US history to try to get a pro-Trump Republican judge elected to Wisconsin's Supreme Court.

Musk paid voters $100 to sign a petition opposing "activist judges" and even handed out $1 million checks to voters, beseeching the public to select the conservative judge.

The court's docket was packed with precedent-setting cases over abortion and reproductive rights, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries.

The US state instead chose a liberal judge by a wide margin in April, dismaying the billionaire -- who had spent roughly $277 million in 2024 in the national race to help get Trump elected.

- Tariff dissenter -

After Trump announced his sweeping US tariffs, deeply affecting major trading partners China and the European Union, Musk made the case for a free-trade zone between the United States and Europe.

This clashes with Trump's trade policy.

Shortly after, he called Trump's economic advisor Peter Navarro, a longtime advocate for trade barriers, "dumber than a sack of bricks."

Navarro had taken aim at Tesla, saying the carmaker mostly sourced assembled major components from factories in Asia.

Musk retorted with studies he said showed "Tesla has the most American-made cars."

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt tried to play down the public feud, saying that "boys will be boys."

- Big, Beautiful Bill -

Musk said he was "disappointed" by Trump's divisive mega-bill, which offers sprawling tax relief and spending cuts, in a rare split with the Republican president.

The tech tycoon said the "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" -- which passed the US House last week and now moves to the Senate -- would increase the deficit and undermine the work of DOGE, which has fired tens of thousands of people.

Critics warn the legislation will gut health care and balloon the national deficit by as much as $4 trillion over a decade.

"I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk told CBS News.

Musk announced he was quitting his US government role shortly after.

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© Agence France-Presse