One thing we've wanted to do for a long time, but have never done, was take a trip up to the DMZ. That was the main reason John and his gang came to visit us this time, because they'd never been either. So we went.
The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is the buffer area between North and South Korea - 2 kilometers on each side. We crossed Freedom Bridge, and entered the twighlight zone;)
As your driving through the area, you pass electric fences, live mine fields, and on the sides of the road that are filled with explosives (if needed, these would be set off, and create blockades in the roads, preventing North Korean tanks from crossing over).
Both North and South Korea have villages that are actually INSIDE the DMZ. On the South Korean side is Taesongdong, or Freedom Village. (This picture is actually a picture of a picture that I took at a briefing we had)
There are just over 200 people who live here - they are direct descendents of people who owned land here before the Korean war. They are considered citizens of South Korea, but they do not have to pay taxes, are exempt from military service, and the government pays for their houses. On the down side, they have a curfew, and men cannot marry into their community (only women - because Korean men normally have to serve time in the military, and they don't want them to get out of that by marrying someone from the village).
On the North side is Gijungdong, or Propaganda Village.
It looks really nice from far away, but modern telescopes have revealed that the buildings are just hallowed-out shells, and many of the windows and doors are just painted on. Some of the buildings have lights, and they are turned off and on at set times. Occasionally, a small cleaning crew will come through and sweep the streets.
One thing we thought was funny - You might notice that both villages have VERY large flag poles. I think North Korea had a smaller one first, and then South Korea built the one they have now, which was 323 ft tall, so the North Korea took down there smaller one, and built their current one, which is 525 ft (at the time, it was the tallest one in the world). The flag itself is so big that it weighs just under 600 lbs!!!
Here we are, at an observation post in the JSA (Joint Security Area), in front of North Korea!
To the right of Joe's head in the photo above, you can see a United Nations Command (UNC) checkpoint, which is right next to he Bridge of No Return.
At the end of the Korean war, this bridge of used for the exchange of prisoners of war. Prisoners were brought to the bridge and given the choice of staying in the country of their captivity, or crossing over to the other country, with the understanding that if they crossed over, they would never be able to return.
In between this checkpoint and the observation post (the picture of us above) there used to be a large tree that blocked the view. This proved to be dangerous to the UNC personnel, because North Korean soldiers made numerous attempts to grab them and drag them across the bridge into North Korean territory. So they decided to trim the tree.....and this led to what is known as The Axe Murder Incident. When a small group of, I think, 15 (both Americans and South Koreans) went to trim the tree, a group of 15 or 16 North Koreans showed up and started watching. After a few minutes, the North Koreans told them to stop, they didn't listen, and then a truck of another 20 North Koreans showed up with clubs and crowbars....and then they attacked....and ended up using the axes dropped by the workers. Two U.S. soldier were killed, and four U.S. soldiers plus five South Korean soldiers were injured. Yikes! This was in 1976, and here is a marker at the sight where it happened (the tree was cut down three days later).
Also in the JSA (Joint Security Area is Conference Row.
The actual border runs right through the middle of these blue conference buildings, and this is where the North and South will sometimes meet to negotiate.
We got to go inside the middle conference building, and take a walk on the North Side!
It was a HOT day - HOT I say! You can see the sweat dripping on the face of this poor South Korean soldier, just a youngin', - he didn't move a muscle;)
We were a little disappointed, because the only North Korean soldier we saw was this guy.
It's hard to tell, but he had his binoculars out, staring back at us. And there's another one in the window to his left - they're always there. What we didn't realize, was that the North and South soldiers are not ALWAYS down by the conference buildings, like I thought - they only come out and stand at their posts when they have a tour group from their own side. Or sometimes, if the guys with the binoculars sees something interesting, then they'll send some people down.
We also stopped at Dorasan Station, the last stop in South Korea on the line that runs between the North and the South.
It is big, and nice.....and empty.
Here is the entrance to the tracks to Pyeongyang (capitol of North Korea) - of course, it doesn't run there.....but it could.
And from there, this same track connects the Koreas with the rest of Asia and Europe!
Apparantly, Kim Jong-il was scared of flying, so the train was his choice of travel;)
AND we also went to the 3rd tunnel - the 3rd (out of 4) tunnel, discovered by South Korea, that North Korea was digging in an attempt to get into South Korea. It was DEEP, a lot deeper than we had expected (about 1,150 below ground). There is no elevator. The way down wasn't too bad, but it was steep, and it took forever. We kept thinking, we have to come back UP this?!!! We weren't supposed to take pictures in there.....apparently our group didn't hear?
The Korean Military Police yelled at our tour group for this - YELLED! I wasn't on the bus at the time, but I heard it was pretty intense.
Anyway, the way up out of the tunnel was TORTURE......it was hard. By the time we reached the top, we had worked up a sweat, and our glasses fogged over.
This was especially hilarious to us because the tunnel was "cloudy" - let me explain. On the bus, our tour guide had kept saying that the tunnel was clouded. I couldn't figure out what she was trying to say - was it foggy in the tunnel; polluted; did she mean it was dark in there? You'd think that after living here for so long, I would never have made this mistake, but I did. Koreans have a hard time saying the "R" sound, and she was really saying that the tunnel was crowded! I was the only one who didn't understand her, and I felt pretty dumb;) We joked about this the whole time we were in the tunnel ("I thought it was going to be cloudy in here" "Where are the clouds?" - this was poking fun at ME, not at our tour guide). So when we came up out of the tunnel and our glasses fogged up, it was finally clouded:)
Not only that, but just look what the humidity did to my formerly straight hair!;)
After this trip, my list of Things-To-Do-Before-I-Leave-Korea is about complete, and I can move now - 10 days and counting:)
