From Seoul to Imjingak: Chimes of Freedom

Both a tech metropolis and a centuries-old city with a rich history, Seoul is usually the most popular place to visit while planning your trip to South Korea. How traditions and modernity coexist will amaze you as you walk along busy streets or sip a cup of tea in an traditional tea house. You will see women wearing a hanbok while holding a smartphone in the subway, or shrines and temples sit quietly, surrounded by towering office blocks.

Even though Seoul will leave you speechless, there is a hidden gem less than a hour far from it which will amaze you as well. It is the Imjingak resort, never mentioned in travel guides and one of the most interesting places you will ever see. Located in the city of Paju, the closest borderland to the DMZ, Imjingak is a park on the banks of the Imjin River. Here, through Korean history, you will see how South Korea, fiercely independent after centuries of invasion and wars, stands strong and proud. Built to console those who are unable to return to their hometown and family because of the division of Korea, Imjingak also represents national security and hope for unification.

Hear the wind blowing, the leaves rustling, the ringing laugh of a child. Far from the crowded and energetic Seoul, time seems to stop in Imjingak. You can either take a tour bus to DMZ border line or you can wander around statues and monument regarding the Korean War. Find the Imjingak War Memorial, built to remember the Korean soldiers who died during the war, or the Mangbaedan, the Worshiping-from-afar Altar, where dispersed family members who left their hometowns in North Korea still conduct ancestral rites looking toward the north and praying for unification.

If you have had enough of Korean history have a look inside the little shops or smile to a friendly and curious local trying to communicate with you even if he does not speak your language. Visit the Peace Park, a multi-cultural space where exhibitions and music performances are held throughout the year. Enjoy a piece of cake at the coffee shop on the pond or rest on the Hill of Wind, where hundreds of colorful pinwheels always spin in the wind.

It is in Imjingak, standing in front of barbed wire fences decorated with thousands or ribbons carrying people’s wishes of peace and unification, that you will learn things you can not find in a book. Here you will understand Korean’s hope and need to belong to a country which, even if divided in two, will always share the same history.