DMZ tour

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The Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea is one of the most famous and heavily fortified borders in the world, and we've been planning to visit since we arrived. One Friday evening, my friend Jackie and I got the KTX from Busan to Seoul. We stayed in the same hostel in Itaewon, Seoul's multi-cultural district, and finally managed to find a quiet bar for a few drinks. Despite out best intentions we ended up going to bed a lot later than planned, and the big excitement of the night was finding salt and vinegar crisps tucked away in a tiny shop!

The next morning we were booked to do a DMZ tour with USO tours. We had to get up early to meet the group at 07:30 but got to doze a bit on the nearly hour long journey north. It was a warm and hazy day outside. Our first port of call was Camp Bonifas inside the JSA (Joint Security Area) where our Korean guide was replaced by a US military guide. We had to sign forms promising that we wouldn't 'fraternise' with the 'enemy' (this included smiling). We were also not allowed to take any pictures whatsoever inside the JSA without permission for security reasons. After we were given a short presentation about the history of the DMZ and how it came about after the Korean War in 1953.

First we were driven up to the frontline - the actual border between the two Koreas - while our tour guide officer gave us some more history and warnings about how to behave. Unfortunately he showed himself up in his historical narrative while talking about the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission - Swiss, Swedish and Czechoslovakia are all countries it appears. We arrived at the frontier where we could see the conference rooms and North Korea! Very exciting! We were warned only to take photos facing North Korea, not to the sides (bushes) and of the building behind us. This being despite the fact that North Korean soldiers can see all of that better than us with their high-powered binoculars and telescopes - no security issues there! We were able to see North Korean soldiers come out of their building and check us out through binoculars. They had no-one down near the MDL (military defense line and actual border) but there were some still-as-a-rock ROK soldiers facing northwards in an intimidating modified taekwondo stance. They all wore sunglasses and stony expressions and literally didn't move. We were told that they only stand there when there is a tour group visiting. After we had taken our forward-facing photographs we were allowed inside one of the conference rooms. In the centre was a long table where negotiations take place and once we moved around the other side of the table we were officially standing in North Korea! While we were there some North Korean soldiers came down to the MDL just outside the room, so we ended up with an up close, if not personal, view. They seemed more concerned with taking pictures of each other than they did with any visitors.

Our time was up and we were shipped back to our waiting bus for a trip to a watchtower for some hazy views of North Korean landscape. Looks quite similar to South Korea funnily enough. Again no pictures of the watchtower directly behind us, never mind that there was nothing to take a photo of and that it sits on a hill clearly visible to all. Our officer annoyed me further by constantly referring to North Korea as 'communist North Korea' and making snipy jokes at their expense - clearly wanting to do his part for re-unifiction. My negative impressions of US military re-enforced, we were driven down to the bridge-of-no-return and the scene of the notorious axe-murder incident. We weren't allowed out of the bus at this point so we just took photos through the window. The bridge crosses the MDL and was used for prisoner exchanges up until 1968. The Axe-murder incident was back in 1976 when two US soldiers were killed by North Korean soliders while they were part of a work party cutting down a tree. There was only a plaque left in memorial.

After this we were transferred out of the JSA and back to our Korean guide. Our next stop was at the site of the 3rd infiltration tunnel where there was a visitor site and museum. Over many years North Korea had managed to blast a total of four tunnels through the DMZ, and when discovered tried to pass them off as coal mines by painting the black with coal dust. This earned a few jibes from our guide as to how clever ROK was not to believe them, despite the fact that they had managed to dynamite their way into ROK territory before being discovered. This tunnel was about 1.6km long and supposedly 35,000 North Korean soldiers could pass through it in a hour. There wasn't much to see down there as it was been concreted up (no photos) but it was still pretty cool. The sceney around the area was even better, peaceful countryside kept out of bounds by chain-link fences with landmine warnings. The DMZ teems with wildlife and has essentially become a very heavily guarded nature preserve.

Next stop was the Dora observatory where we could see into North Korea. In the distant haze we could make out the 'propaganda' village of Kijong-dong (supposedly no-one lives there but lights can be seen at night) and the Kaesong industrial area, a collaborative economic project jointly run by the two Koreas. Kijong-dong has the 3rd largest flagpole in the world - they were determined to outdo the ROK village of Daeseong-dong. These are the only two villages permitted to exist inside the JSA. The last place on our tour was the Dorasan train station - the last stop before North Korea. It used to bring materials back and forth to Kaesong but all services stopped in 2008. It's amazing to think that, some day, the two Koreas could be joined up again, even if not re-unified. And that concluded our DMZ tour - an interesting if sad and poignant trip.

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Comments

[barrygahan]

A great read
Enjoyed reading this, sounds like a fascinating trip.