Posted by Jess
18 April 2011
More on my weekend in Seoul: On Saturday I took a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. This is the fenced in area 2km on either side of the Korean border where no military activity is allowed. Since most of the tour takes place on military bases and in places where people might want to spy, there were not a lot of places to take photos but I did get a couple. I was on a Japanese tour bus with 6 English speakers in the back - three guys from Poland and two women from Colombia, all about my age.
Our first stop was at The Third Tunnel. Maybe a little history would help. From 1910-1936, Korea was under the control of Japan. When WWII ended, the Superpowers decided they would watch over the country and kind of like Germany, they split the country in two arbitrarily along the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union was in charge of the north and the U.S. was in charge of the south. Many families were split in 1945 between the two territories without any say in the matter. In 1948, elections were supposed to happen in both the north and south to bring Korea their own independent government, but the U.S. and the USSR didn't agree on candidates and so the two states were born, both thinking the whole Peninsula was their land. This is what lead to the Korean War in 1950. The war lasted 3 years and ended in a cease-fire in 1953, when the DMZ was created.
A quick tangent - While I was meeting at work one of the guys was asking about life in Japan these days and he said something about "the foreigners stay away, but the locals just go on - they are used to it". While I don't agree really for Japan since this is all a bit unprecedented, that's neither here nor there. He went on to say that in March last year when there was an incident between the North and South where 46 South Korean sailors died, many foreigners were afraid to come (and truthfully as talk between the two countries escalated, Jason and I watched the papers closely). He said, "this is as it has always been, so we were not afraid." I learned on Saturday that he's right. There have been so many incidents of North Koreans trying to infiltrate the South and seemingly unprovoked attacks on South Korean soldiers. Now I'm sure there are two sides to every story, but it is pretty crazy what I learned from the South.
Ok, now back to the Third Tunnel. So the DMZ is 4km wide. This is a tunnel on the South Korean side of the border, coming in from the north. Experts think there might actually be 17-20 tunnels in all but only 4 have been found so far. It is thought that this tunnel was going to lead to the road leading straight into Seoul. 30,000 (short) troops could have passed through the tunnel in an hour when completed. The tunnel was found when a North Korean tunnel engineer defected to the South. When the North was busted, they did what they could to cover up their sneakiness. They said that the South Koreans were actually building a tunnel to the North (but the dynamite holes were facing the wrong way and the tunnel was built in such a way that water would drain to the North) and then they said they were mining for coal. No coal here, but they did put coal powder on the walls of the tunnel just to help their case. No pictures down here, but I did get a few of the area and the monorail ride down the 73m to the tunnel. Strangest Disney Ride Ever.
The next stop was an observation point where you could look at North Korea. This felt a little strange to me. The big thing we were told is that since its planting season, we might see some North Korean's out in the field working. They were out planting crops and I have to say it didn't look any different than any other farmers I've seen so I am not sure what the draw was. There was a 'village' in view from this point that was interesting though. It's called "Propaganda Village" by the South. There are a bunch of buildings that no one lives in, in fact they have no windows or rooms inside, but they are there to make it look like North Korea is a great place to live when people come to the observation point. The fact that they need that place makes me think it's really not. No pictures into North Korea here but I did get a shot of the observation building. Exciting, isn't it?
Next up was Dorasan Station. Between 1998-2008, South Koreans were able to take tours to North Korea. Then a tourist was killed and those tours were canceled. There is a railway line that goes from Seoul to Pyeongyang that is no longer used. Dorasan Station is the last station on this line. It's built as a border crossing for shipments - has a security area and customs area all ready to go. All that's left is a re-unification of the two Koreas and it's ready to go for imports and exports. I bought a ticket for Pyongyang for about 50 cents. Someday I hope I'll be able to use it.
After that we went on to lunch at a local restaurant and I had some roast beef Korean style on the floor with my tour mates. After lunch we went to a tourist area in the DMZ. It's the site of a few war memorials and Freedom Bridge. This is where North Koreans who are allowed to leave cross into the South. There is also an amusement park here. A strange combination of tourism and war. There was an area here where a little festival was set up. We were told that the night before, the South Koreans tied pamphlets about free life in the south on some balloons and released them into the northerly wind. North Korea said they would start shelling the area the balloons came from. Great news since we're standing right there on that day. The tour guide said "but it's 1pm and it hasn't happened yet, so that's pretty lucky." Awe.Some.
After that, some people went on to Panmunjom to see the Joint Security Area. This is a neutral area in the DMZ where if needed, the two sides can stand on their own side of the borders but in the same room. I apparently didn't sign up for this so it was back to Seoul for me. I was back in the city before 3pm with a much better appreciation for Korea's past (which for about 100 years doesn't sound so fantastic) and how crazy the North Koreans are. And I wasn't detained. Bonus!!!
The rest of Saturday will be blogged soon but this has already gotten a little long, so watch for Part 3 coming soon!
Kanpai!
Jess
18 April 2011
More on my weekend in Seoul: On Saturday I took a tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea. This is the fenced in area 2km on either side of the Korean border where no military activity is allowed. Since most of the tour takes place on military bases and in places where people might want to spy, there were not a lot of places to take photos but I did get a couple. I was on a Japanese tour bus with 6 English speakers in the back - three guys from Poland and two women from Colombia, all about my age.
Our first stop was at The Third Tunnel. Maybe a little history would help. From 1910-1936, Korea was under the control of Japan. When WWII ended, the Superpowers decided they would watch over the country and kind of like Germany, they split the country in two arbitrarily along the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union was in charge of the north and the U.S. was in charge of the south. Many families were split in 1945 between the two territories without any say in the matter. In 1948, elections were supposed to happen in both the north and south to bring Korea their own independent government, but the U.S. and the USSR didn't agree on candidates and so the two states were born, both thinking the whole Peninsula was their land. This is what lead to the Korean War in 1950. The war lasted 3 years and ended in a cease-fire in 1953, when the DMZ was created.
A quick tangent - While I was meeting at work one of the guys was asking about life in Japan these days and he said something about "the foreigners stay away, but the locals just go on - they are used to it". While I don't agree really for Japan since this is all a bit unprecedented, that's neither here nor there. He went on to say that in March last year when there was an incident between the North and South where 46 South Korean sailors died, many foreigners were afraid to come (and truthfully as talk between the two countries escalated, Jason and I watched the papers closely). He said, "this is as it has always been, so we were not afraid." I learned on Saturday that he's right. There have been so many incidents of North Koreans trying to infiltrate the South and seemingly unprovoked attacks on South Korean soldiers. Now I'm sure there are two sides to every story, but it is pretty crazy what I learned from the South.
Ok, now back to the Third Tunnel. So the DMZ is 4km wide. This is a tunnel on the South Korean side of the border, coming in from the north. Experts think there might actually be 17-20 tunnels in all but only 4 have been found so far. It is thought that this tunnel was going to lead to the road leading straight into Seoul. 30,000 (short) troops could have passed through the tunnel in an hour when completed. The tunnel was found when a North Korean tunnel engineer defected to the South. When the North was busted, they did what they could to cover up their sneakiness. They said that the South Koreans were actually building a tunnel to the North (but the dynamite holes were facing the wrong way and the tunnel was built in such a way that water would drain to the North) and then they said they were mining for coal. No coal here, but they did put coal powder on the walls of the tunnel just to help their case. No pictures down here, but I did get a few of the area and the monorail ride down the 73m to the tunnel. Strangest Disney Ride Ever.
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| this was our ride. watch your head! |
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| the n. koreans, on average are like 5'6". this thing saved me from a lot of pain in the tunnel |
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| this is not for calling 'dibs' on the area. we were clearly instructed not to go behind fences with these signs on them! |
Next up was Dorasan Station. Between 1998-2008, South Koreans were able to take tours to North Korea. Then a tourist was killed and those tours were canceled. There is a railway line that goes from Seoul to Pyeongyang that is no longer used. Dorasan Station is the last station on this line. It's built as a border crossing for shipments - has a security area and customs area all ready to go. All that's left is a re-unification of the two Koreas and it's ready to go for imports and exports. I bought a ticket for Pyongyang for about 50 cents. Someday I hope I'll be able to use it.
After that we went on to lunch at a local restaurant and I had some roast beef Korean style on the floor with my tour mates. After lunch we went to a tourist area in the DMZ. It's the site of a few war memorials and Freedom Bridge. This is where North Koreans who are allowed to leave cross into the South. There is also an amusement park here. A strange combination of tourism and war. There was an area here where a little festival was set up. We were told that the night before, the South Koreans tied pamphlets about free life in the south on some balloons and released them into the northerly wind. North Korea said they would start shelling the area the balloons came from. Great news since we're standing right there on that day. The tour guide said "but it's 1pm and it hasn't happened yet, so that's pretty lucky." Awe.Some.
After that, some people went on to Panmunjom to see the Joint Security Area. This is a neutral area in the DMZ where if needed, the two sides can stand on their own side of the borders but in the same room. I apparently didn't sign up for this so it was back to Seoul for me. I was back in the city before 3pm with a much better appreciation for Korea's past (which for about 100 years doesn't sound so fantastic) and how crazy the North Koreans are. And I wasn't detained. Bonus!!!
The rest of Saturday will be blogged soon but this has already gotten a little long, so watch for Part 3 coming soon!
Kanpai!
Jess
4:32 AM |
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