DMZ

This past weekend we went to the DMZ, or the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. It is approximately at the 38th parallel and runs east to west for 250km and is 4 km wide. It is heavily dotted with landmines inside the DMZ so there was barbed wire everywhere around where we were. They try to be discreet about the fact that this is still a heavily militarized area as they are trying to use it as a tourist attraction now. But if you had a sharp eye, you could see the military personnel watching you from every angle.
Below you can see the Freedom Bridge. This bridge connects North and South Korea over the DMZ, it was used for prisoner exchange after the truce.
Now you can walk a little ways along the bridge but it ends abruptly at a wall in front of a chain link fence that has soldiers on the other side. Freedom indeed....
There are many wishes for reunification, on that wall and on the nearby chain link fence. There were ribbons posted that they will keep until unification happens.
A few of them were in English, a lot of those were very sad, people with family still over there or who came from North Korea and feel they cannot go home. We added our own ribbons to the fence.
It may be a little hard to read in the picture, but mine says "May one day all people will cease in war and Korea will be together again. I wish all the families peace in their hearts and solace in their sadness. My thoughts and prayers are with you all." It was really quite sad there.
We saw a movie at the theatre near the third tunnel. The movie was kind of strange. It looked like MTV made it, lots of cut shots and loud music. It was bordering on propaganda about how they will be together again and it is just a matter of time and isn't the DMZ pretty with all the animals. It seemed a little out of touch especially after reading the newspapers talking about North Korea launching a missile. But I digress...
While we were hanging out near the third tunnel we started talking to some of the Korean military guys who were stationed there. Their job was to give VIP tours of the DMZ. They go the cushy job because they both had lived in the US for a while and had flawless English. This is why they want to learn English I guess, helps on any job.
All male Korean citizens are required to be in the military for at least 2 years starting between the ages of 18 and 22. One of the guys actually had to leave mid-degree at a US college to come do his service.
The third tunnel that I mentioned, I don't have any pictures of (not permitted). But it was one of four tunnels that have been found that the North Koreans have dug trying to invade the South. The last one was in the 1990s. The North denies this of course, though everyone knows it is true. The third one is the one you can go down into because it is the biggest. It is a very steep climb back up. We were so tired by the time we finished. I guess it was our work out for the day.
Then we headed over to the lookout point where you can look over into Kaesong City, North Korea. It was a gorgeous, clear day so we could see quite well. They are very strict about it though. You could only take pictures from behind the photo line.
That says Photo Line in Korean. That makes it pretty hard to get a good shot of North Korea cause of the angles, etc. But because of our good weather and my phenomenal Panasonic Lumix 10x optical zoom point and shoot I got some decent photos.
You can see Kaesong city and the fields that were burning off last years deitrius. You can look through the binoculars for obec (50 cents). You may be looking at a communist country but you are obviously still in a capitalist one.
Next we moved on to the train station, everywhere it said "Not the last station in South Korea, but the first station into North Korea"
Great sentiment except at the moment the North Koreans are not allowing the train to come into North Korea. They did for a bit, there are South Koreans employed at the factories in Kaesong City, but everything is shut down for now.
This soldier is actually a UN soldier. You can tell by his hat and the white rope. He was much less relaxed than the guys we met before.
But we did make him crack a smile before we left so mission accomplished!
I made our tour guide take a picture with us. We went with Adventure Korea and this is the third trip where he has been my guide and I didn't have any pictures of him. He said it is because he is "not a picture guy". But he agreed to be in this one.
Left to right: me, Park Seokjin, Kayla and Meg.
All in all, it was an interesting trip. We didn't get to go to Panmujeon (the only village within the DMZ), I think it is because of the escalated tensions at the moment. That is the only thing I wish I could have seen. I am really glad I got to go, it was a last minute thing cause Meg's friend had to delay her trip and they had an extra slot. So thanks Linda!