Fast forward a few years to the Korean War ceasefire in 1953, the 4 km wide DMZ and the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the general vicinity of the 38th parallel. (Yes, I know I am brushing by some major moments in history, but we all know that history has never been a real interest of mine... Until today when I found myself standing at the most heavily armed border in the world and realizing I didn't know why.)
Our tour started at Camp Bonifas with a short slideshow by the US Army. Next we boarded surprisingly nice military buses to Panmunjeon, the Joint Security Area (JSA). The JSA is where the negotiations and other communications between North and South Korean and world leaders take place, on an apparently regular basis. It's an 800 square meter area with several color coded buildings: the blue buildings belong to the UN Command and the silver buildings belong to North Korea. This row of silver and blue buildings is divided by the MDL which you can see as the slightly raised line of concrete between the buildings, and as the line of microphones on the table inside the building.
We were allowed into one of the blue buildings where Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers stood at the ready in some sort of martial arts pose. We were allowed to walk around in the building, even standing on the North Korean side of the table! But we could not sit in the chairs or set anything on the tables.
In these photos, a ROK soldier standing halfway behind the building to only expose part of his body.The large gray building in the background is a North Korean administrative building, and the North Korean soldiers are wearing olive drab.
One building on the South Korean side of the JSA is the Freedom House, originally built as a venue for family reunions, but no family reunions have ever taken place here. But note all the security cameras on it!
We boarded the buses again to overlook the Bridge of No Return. When POWs were exchanged they were given the option to cross the bridge to the other country or stay where they were. But they couldn't return, hence the bridge's name.The Axe Murder Incident occurred in 1976 right next to the Bridge of No Return. You can read about that incident and Operation Paul Bunyan here.
From our vantage point we could also see "Propaganda Village". This is the North Korean "Peace Village" in the DMZ. It's an apparently empty city with a huge North Korean flag. The flag itself is so large it weighs 600 pounds and only flutters in gale force winds! Lights go on and off in the buildings every day at exactly the same time. This and the fact that there is no glass in the windows clued the UN Command into realizing no one actually lives there.
After the morning portion of the tour, we stopped at the gift shop which sold bits of barbed wire from the MDL and other souvenirs.
Then a Korean lunch in Freedom Village.
After lunch we visited Dora Observatory. It offered nice views of North Korea which from a distance looks like any other place. However, we couldn't take pictures beyond the yellow line at the observatory. I thought it was more entertaining to take pictures of people trying to take pictures from behind the yellow line.
Our last stop was The 3rd Tunnel. Again, I had to admit total ignorance to what this even was, but I was quickly informed. North Korea has made at least four tunnels under the DMZ for the purpose of invading South Korea. The outlet (or intended outlet) of the 3rd Tunnel is only 44 kilometers from Seoul, so when it was discovered in 1978, the people of South Korea were alarmed. Today it is a tourist attraction with its own gift shop. We watched a video and went through a small museum before entering the tunnel.
When the tunnel was discovered, the North claimed it was a coal mine - although the bedrock is granite. They had even gone to the trouble of painting coal on the tunnel walls to substantiate their claim. When that didn't work, they claimed the tunnel was created by the South.
Throughout the day, it was very interesting to hear some of the sides to this story - the US Army's; our tour guide whose parents were refugees from North Korea; and the Australian authors of Lonely Planet. Of course I didn't get to hear North Korea's side of the story, which would be called propaganda. But the cheesy video we watched before entering the 3rd Tunnel was clearly propaganda by the South. It showed the DMZ as a lovely park with benches and flowers for happy family reunions, and of course all the natural wildlife that currently thrives in this uninhabited 4 km zone.
All in all, the most interesting day I spent in Korea.
More photos of the DMZ and JSA
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