DMZ Tour

I got up extremely early yesterday (5.00am!) to get into Seoul by 7.00am for the DMZ Tour. The Korean Demilitiarised Zone is the buffer between North and South Korea which was set up after the end of the Korean War. It is about 2.5 miles wide and is the most heavily militiarised border in the world. However, as the DMZ is effectively a no mans land (apart from two villages in the DMZ and the Joint Security Area, no humans have been in the DMZ for more than 50 years), it has become a wildlife haven, many rare and endangered species have been spotted here.

I met up with Lori (the organiser) and the others at Samgakji station and then we went to Camp Kim, where the USO is based. Our first stop was Dora Observatory where you can look at North Korea through binoculars. Unfortunately, it was so foggy, we couldn't see very much at all!

North Korea lies that way!

Next we headed to the southern end of the Third Tunnel of Aggression. The North Koreans dug tunnels under the DMZ in order to stage an invasion of South Korea. So far, four tunnels have been discovered, but they think there could be around 10 more. Tourists are allowed to go into the tunnel, but not allowed to take any photos inside, so you will have to make do with this diagram from outside the tunnel entrance. To get to the tunnel, we had to walk down a very steep ramp. The tunnel has been blocked off at the Demarcation Line to prevent the North Koreans from using it. The climb back up to the surface was pretty tough!

Diagram of the Third Tunnel, note the incline!

As we had a bit of time before lunch, we had an unscheduled stop at Dorasan train station. The station was opened by George W Bush in 2002 and it is hoped that it will become the link station between North and South Korea sometime in the near future. When that happens, it will be possible to travel from Seoul into China and across Asia and Europe by train. At the moment though, North Korea is of course the "axis of evil" (so says George W.) and one of the most closed societies in the world, so who knows when passenger trains will start rolling across the border? Of course, the fall of communism in Europe happened pretty quickly and peacefully, so hopefully the same will happen in Korea.

Dorasan Station

The direction sign anticipates the day when you will be able to travel from South to North Korea

We then had lunch at a Korean restaurant before going to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeon. This is probably one of the most surreal and uncomfortable places I have visited. The armistice treaty between North and South Korea (not a peace treaty, the war is still officially ongoing) was signed here and since then the UN and North Korea have maintained a presence here and occasionally hold meetings in the conference room. Firstly, we had a briefing from one of the US soldiers (all the American soldiers seemed to be straight out of central casting!) and signed a declaration to say we were aware we were entering hostile enemy territory where all sorts of horrors could await us, including death. As you are reading this, you may safely assume I made it out in one piece!

We were taken to Freedom Hall, where a number of families from North and South Korea were reunited after more than 50 years and then to Conference Row. There are a number of buildings, all designed to be temporary, painted blue which belong to the UN. There are also a number of more permanent looking grey buildings which belong to North Korea. The whole area is heavily guarded by South Korean (ROK) and US soldiers.

The soldiers stand on guard partly hidden by the buildings to present less of a target to to North Korean troops.

The conference room where occasional peace talks take place between the UN and North Korea.

The military demarcation line runs through the middle of the conference room, so I am techically standing in North Korea. The soldier behind me is guarding the door used by North Korea, it is kept locked when there are tourists in the room. The soldiers here are on constant alert, notice his clenched fists!

While we were on Conference Row, we were being spied on by a North Korean soldier with binoculars. We were warned in our briefing that we were not to point or make any gestures towards the North Koreans as it could be interpreted as an act of aggression or used in propaganda.

In some ways, I was glad to leave Conference Row behind. I can't imagine having to live with that level of mistrust and paranoia day in day out!

We then went to an observation post which is surrounded on 3 sides by North Korean territory. A line of white posts and rusted signposts mark the Demarcation Line. Whenever people try to repaint the signs, they have been fired upon by North Korean soldiers.

From here, you can also see a North Korean village called Kijong Dong. However, all is not what it seems. The village was built in the 1950s and appeared to be a real village with modern amenities such as electric power. Telescopes were trained on the village from the South Korean side of the border and they discovered the buildings were just empty shells designed to tempt South Koreans into defecting to a Communist paradise. Real North Korean villages of the time were not nearly so luxurious. The village is referred to as Propaganda Village.

There is also a village on the South Korean side of the border called Taesundong, known as Freedom Village. The only people allowed to live here are descendants of the inhabitants before the Korean War. The inhabitants have to live under a number of restrictions, such as a curfew at night and having to be guarded at all times by South Korean soldiers (as North Koreans used to kidnap villagers who were out working in the fields). However, they also have a number of benefits - their farms are much larger than the average Korean farm, they don't pay taxes and children are allowed to attend any school in the country at the Government's (or the taxpayers') expense.

Both villages have a flagpole displaying their national flag. The flagpole at Taesungdong was briefly taller than the one at Kisongdong, but the North Koreans retaliated by building a huge 160ft flagpole (the flag alone weighs 600 pounds). According to our guide, Soldier of Fortune magazine has offered a $1 million reward for anyone managing to bring them a square meter of the flag from the flagpole at Kisongdong!

We then went down towards the Bridge of No Return. The bridge was used to exchange prisoners after the Korean War and was so named as prisoners could choose whether or not to cross the bridge back to their home territory, but if they decided to cross they would never be allowed to return.

This area was the site of an incident which very nearly reignited the Korean War in 1976. Two American soldiers were attempting to trim a tree which was blocking the view from the observation post at the Bridge of No Return when they were attacked by North Korean soldiers who killed them with axes. Three days later, a team accompanied by a large security team cut down the tree as a show of force. The site is now marked by a plaque and Camp Bonifas is named after Captain Arthur Bonifas who died in the Axe Murder Incident.

I spent most of the day with Tori, who is teaching at a hagwon in Seoul. They have treated her pretty shoddily and haven't paid her for the past month. She is so fed up that she is probably going to leave Korea next month. It makes me grateful that I am working for a decent hogwan who always pays us on time and treats us with respect. It makes me so angry that schools think they can treat foreign teachers so badly and get away with it.