My new life begins at LAX a journal of my 3 months living and working in Phnom Penh, and beyond.

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On of the things that I really wanted to see while in Korea was the DMZ. The DMZ is the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ goes 2 kms from the demarcation line into both North and South Korea. A few days ago somebody on Couch Surfing said they were going on a DMZ tour and I had the day free so decided to tag along and check it out.

 

I really hate guided tours, but it was the only way I would have access to the DMZ so I thought it would be worth it. We met at the Lotte Hotel at 8:00am.  I met Alaa the CSer from Morocco right when I get there. There was one other English Speaking tourist with us, a business woman from New York. We had an extremely energetic tour guide with the very original Korean name of Ms. Kim, her English name was Pansy (“like the flower”). There was also a couple Japanese tourists in the van and the driver was their guide.

 

As we drove out of Seoul we hit rush hour traffic. We took highway 1 which  runs parallels to the Han river to the boarder. North Korea is only about 50 kilometers from Seoul. All along the banks of the River there are high fences with barbed wire and look out posts. The river doesn’t separate North and South Korea, but the river does run into North Korea, so the area around the river is heavily fortified. We drove about an hour and got to an amusement park and ride area that had a bunch of tributes to the Korean War. There was also an old immobile train there that no longer ran into North Korea, symbolizing the division.

 

At the Amusement park area we boarded a large red bus with other tourist groups. There were a lot of restrictions in the DMZ and one of them was that we could not take any photos while on the bus.

 

We drove over the unification bridge, but first had to pass through Security. An Armed South Korean guard got on the bus and checked all of out passports, then we proceeded to cross the bridge. As we crossed the bridge we had to swerve between several massive un-joined barricades. The barricades were set up so that they could be moved into place at any moments incase relations go bad with North Korea.

 

After crossing the bridge we drove through the DMZ area. Off the road there was barbed wire and there was warning about landmines. Apparently there are hundreds of thousands of landmines in the DMZ. There are also thousands of troops stationed in the DMZ at all times. When we exited the bus we heard gun shots from shooting ranges. Our first stop was in a little museum area where we watched a film about the DMZ. Then we went underground into a tunnel that North Korea had built into South Korea. The South discovered the tunnel in the 1970’s (over 20 years after the war ended) while it was still under construction. Three other tunnels were also discovered the most recent one in the 1990’s.

 

The tunnel was about 250 feet deep, and it showed  how hard the North were trying to get into South Korea. The tunnels was blasted into the limestone with dynamite. We walked for a bit until got to the end which was one of 3 massive blockades that the South had put up. The tunnels were designed with Koreans men in mind so I had to bend over the whole time I was walking, my back was sore by the time I got to the end.

 

Inside the tunnel walls were painted black with charcoal. It was the last thing that the North did before abandoning the tunnel when they knew the South would find it. The North later claimed responsibility for the tunnel but said they were only down there mining coal. The tunnel was pretty interesting, but there was also a photo restriction in the tunnel.

 

After the tunnel we went to an observation deck on top of a mountain where we could look into North Korea. We could see 3 heavily fortified fences. One between the South and the DMZ, the actual boarder fence, and the fence separating the north from the DMZ.

 

The observation deck was also photo restricted. They had coin operated telescopes so I put in a 500 won coin in and looked into North Korea. It was overcast and visibility wasn’t too good. There was one village which was easy to find because there was a massive flag pole (supposedly the tallest in the world) with a huge North Korean flag. There was a story about the flag poles. Both the North and South each have a small village in the DMZ. The South put up a flag pole and the North responded by building a taller flag pole. This pissing contest went on for several years, then the South finally gave up and let North have the taller flag pole.

 

I didn’t see much action going on in the North Korean village because of the haze. But apparently the village is a “fake” village, set up as propaganda. My guide told me that nobody lives in the village and that there are no windows in any of the buildings. They told me that the village was set up by North Korea to show how great they are, because they knew that many tourists come to the DMZ from the South and look it. The buildings in the North Korean town looked very modern and orderly which supported the propaganda village theory. The village on the South side of the DMZ is supposedly a “real” village and people live and work there.

 

The was also an industrial complex in view within the North. The complex was built by South Korea, when relations were good. There is a Hyundai factory and a few other South Korean companies have factories there. One of the hopes for reunification is to help the North get involved with some of the South’s export production, trying to get the North involved in international commerce and bringing them out of their isolation. Even though relations aren’t too good between the Koreas now the factories are still operating, although at reduced capacities.

 

After the viewing platform we went to a train station. The train station was built in 2002 when relations between the North and South were better. They are still working to put a functional train line through North Korea into China. George W. Bush  was there for the opening and he singed a rail post with the words “May this railroad unite Korean Families“. Since the grand opening relations between the Koreas have soured and the proposed Trans Korean Railway has been suspended. The station is kind of weird, it’s brand new and completely unused. There were a couple Korean Army men there, who all the tourists stood next to and took pictures with. There was also a sign for the tracks to Pyongyang.

 

After the station we left the DMZ zone and returned to South Korea.

 

It was a weird day. I never realized how tense the situation between the two Korea was. It seems that they are ready to go to war with each other at any moment. Most people outside Korea see the North and South as two separate countries, but people in South Korea however seem to think they are one divided country and they still have hopes for reunification.

 

The DMZ is a symbol of ugly time in Korea’s history. When you are in it feels like you are in a quiet war zone (Actually I just found out the 2 Korea's are still techinically at war so it is just that). The DMZ is a symbol of division and war. But one good thing about the DMZ is that with almost no human activity for the last 50 years it has become a haven for wildlife, despite the occasional loss of a deer leg by a landmine. Although we were there during the winter and we didn’t see too many animals, I did see a lot of birds and I’m sure the area is a very beautiful place in the Spring and the Summer.