DMZ with the fam

The next day was another long day…I’d signed us up for a DMZ tour…when we checked into the first hotel in seoul, there were brochures for various DMZ tours, many of which didn’t include the area most people know, the area with the blue buildings…and all those tours were expensive, especially those that did include the JSA area…I remembered that I’d done this tour with a high school classmate back in 2006, so I went looking for that information and eventually found it…the USO web page isn’t very helpful, I had to email them directly…fortunately, they were good about responding quickly…the USO facebook page also isn’t terribly helpful…the DMZ tour starts with checkin at the USO at 0700, and to get there on time I wanted us walking out of our hotel at 0600…the buses leave the USO at 0730…we thought we’d have a chance to grab coffee at a coffee shop nearby, but since it was Saturday, the coffee shop wasn’t open…argh…

As the bus was driving north, there wasn’t much traffic…(thank goodness)…Saturday morning is a time for sleep for most people…our guide was giving us various bits of information, some people were trying to sleep, etc…at one point, our guide was having a trivia quiz, finding out who knows what about north Korea…one of the questions: what is the most important holiday of the year in north Korea? I answered that one (the birthday of kim il sung, their eternal president, which is in april) and got myself a free XXL t-shirt…other questions included how long mandatory military service times for north Koreans, what you should NOT do when taking a picture with the famous kim il sung bronze statue in Pyongyang, etc…I like those kinds of questions…I’m a geek, I know…as we were driving north, our bus took us through a couple checkpoints, and we started to see barbed wire and the like…

Then the bus stopped…this was the outer boundary of the DMZ…the DMZ is 4km long, and runs the length of the entire peninsula…2km on the north side, 2km on the south side…despite the name, it’s actually the world’s most militarized area…there are soldiers along the entire length of both sides, there is constant tension, and shots are fired from time to time…to enter this area, you have to have a military escort…we had an army specialist, and I’ve forgotten the rank of the other guy…as we quickly learned, our guy could be pretty entertaining…some of the stuff he said was pretty funny, but it was even funnier because he said it all with a completely straight face…living in this area of the world has to be pretty stressful…one of the nifty effects of having an area hardly touched by humans has been the proliferation of wildlife…environmentalists hope that if north and south Korea do reunite, the DMZ will be kept as a national park, or some kind of protected area…quite a few species have shown up there that aren’t easily found in other areas of the world…our guide had some entertaining stories about which animals he’d seen, and how…our army guide told us the regulations of what was coming next, and what we’d be doing…

After driving through the gates/checkpoint, we had to get off our buses…because we were now in a military area, we had to switch buses, but we couldn’t take anything with us…only cameras, and some money we could put in a pocket…no camera bags, no purses, etc…it couldn’t appear at all that we were trying to take something with us to try to give to the north Koreans…if we had jackets, we needed to be wearing them, the jackets couldn’t be tied around our waists…before switching buses, all of us trooped into a small theatre area, where one of the army guys gave a briefing on the history of the area…the Korean peninsula hasn’t been united as one country for a good portion of it’s history…most recently, at the end of WWII, it was divided in two for the purposes of accepting the Japanese surrender…in the north, the Japanese surrendered to the Russians…in the south, they surrendered to the US and I’ve forgotten who else…the idea was that the two sides would then come together and hold democratic elections for the future…needless to say, that didn’t happen…the south held elections, the north didn’t…instead, a man by the name of kim il sung was supported by the Russians (and the Chinese) and put in charge of the north…both sides still talked about becoming one nation again, but kim was the leader who actually did something about it…on 25 june, 1950, the beginning of what the US calls the Korean war,  north Korean troops poured across the border in a sneak attack…they conquered nearly the entire peninsula, and were all the way down to the busan perimeter before the US (under the flag of the united nations – UN) stepped in…when US troops came, north Korea was stretched to it’s limits supplywise, and wasn’t able to fight back with much force…so US troops pushed back, and eventually recaptured most of the south…general macarthur planned and launched a surprise landing at incheon, helping to recapture seoul, and push the north Koreans far behind their original lines…and this is where macarthur was an idiot…with winter coming on (which ended up being one of the worst winters Korea has ever seen) macarthur wanted to keep pushing, and take over the entire Korean peninsula for the south…the yalu river is essentially the boundary on the north, between Korea and china…he pushed US troops farther and farther north, without doing proper checking into the situation…the Chinese didn’t much like the idea of a fully southern peninsula, so in secret they sent a bunch of “volunteers” from the Chinese army to help the north Koreans fight…some of these “volunteer” units had been fighting for a loooong time already (this was the end of the fighting between mao’s forces, and the forces of chiang kai shek, for control of china) so they knew how to fight…they ambushed the US in quite a few places, causing a lot of casualties…the weather didn’t help, as US forces didn’t have winter clothing…the Chinese/north Koreans pushed south again…anywho, the long and short of this is that there was a lot of fighting, especially over the middle third of the peninsula, which destroyed nearly everything…temples, villages, etc…in the end, a peace treaty was never signed, only a truce that stopped the actual fighting…so technically, the war is still going, 60 years later…the agreements were finally signed in a building on the north side of the DMZ in july of 1953…3 years of fighting that didn’t change much of anything, except a lot of people died, on both sides…

A number of incidents have taken place in the DMZ, including the most expensive tree cutting operation in world history…the south wanted to cut down a tree that was impeding it’s view from one of the checkpoints in the area, so they sent a number of soldiers to do the job…north Korean soldiers attacked, and in the fighting, at least two US soldiers were killed…not too long later, the US sent soldiers again, only this time with a whole lot of backup…fighter jets flying overhead, a warship on alert off the coast, and a whole bunch of guys waiting to rush in in case the north Koreans tried any more funny business…they didn’t…there is also the story of a Russian defector, running across to the south while on a tour of the north side of the DMZ…that resulted in a firefight…there are other stories I’m sure I’m forgetting…

We got on our new buses, and drove to what I think is called freedom hall…we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, though I don’t know what we would’ve wanted to take pictures of…anywho…this building was originally built in order to host family reunifications between families that were split as a result of the end of the war…but it’s never held any of those reunifications, as the north won’t let it’s people go across the line, not even a little bit…all reunifications have been held in the north…(most of them at a facility built by Hyundai, on the east coast)…walking out of the other side of the building leads you to the sight you most often see in photos…a big building across the way, with one north Korean soldier visible…in between that building and the one to your back are five smaller buildings…the two outside ones are silver in colour, and belong to the north…the three in the middle are run by the south, and are blue…the building in the very middle is where a lot of high level negotiations take place usually between ranking officials of each country’s military…(official government level talks are rare, and don’t take place here)…the border between the two countries actually runs in a straight line down the middle of these five buildings…so if you’re standing on one side of the blue building, you’re technically in north Korea…hana and mom are now in a photo of this…as we walked out of the freedom house, our group was separated into two…the other group went in the blue building, we waited outside, and our army guy told us a bit more of the history…then our group went in the blue building…the door on the north side of the building is blocked by a south Korean soldier when groups from the south visit, so it isn’t possible to open the door, run out and defect to the north…(and in return, when groups from the north visit, the south side door is blocked by a north Korean soldier, so you can’t defect to the south)…groups from the north and south don’t visit this area at the same time…ever…

We got back on the buses and continued the drive to one of the checkpoints…this particular checkpoint is surrounded on three sides by the north, so when you look out, you get to see a lot of north Korea…this is also the point where you can best see the village north Korea has built inside the DMZ…there is a village on the southside as well, and it’s real…people live there, and farm the land…the village on the north side, not so much…only a few people live there, and they all work in Kaesong, a town just a bit farther north…the flag on the north side is 160m, as opposed to the flag on the south side, which is only 100m…these are sizes where the flags will tear under their own weight when the weather is crappy…when you listen to the guides give these statistics, you can tell they are amused by the games played by each side…north Korea usually wants to be the “best” so their things are taller, louder, bigger, etc…

Then the bus drove to the end of the bridge of no return…we weren’t able to get off the bus at this point, so everyone crowded onto one side of the bus to see the bridge…it’s nothing exciting, just a bridge…at the end of the war, POWs on each side were given the choice as to where they wanted to live…it’s called the bridge of no return, because once they walked to either side, there was no return…they couldn’t go back…back then no one knew what the situation would be today…even if you were able to get off the bus and run to the bridge, you wouldn’t be able to cross it, as there is a big barrier in the middle…

For the first few decades after the war, the north was actually doing better…the people had a better quality of life, and a higher income…the south didn’t do as well until the 70s, I think…in the north there is the potential for much more industry…they have more mineral resources, more capability for heavy manufacturing…but in the south there is a lot more agriculture…and that makes a huge difference…if you can’t feed your people (and north Korea has needed food aid for years now) then it doesn’t matter what else you have…

The bus then took us back to the spot where we’d originally changed buses…we had the chance to check out the museum (which shows the history of the area in general, as well as war history) and the gift shop…hana took the chance to ask the guide about women stationed up there…he said normally there are no woman, but at that point, there were a couple air force ladies stationed up there…there is no chaplain position, one comes up from seoul every couple of weeks…

We switched back to our original buses, and drove to the 3^rd tunnel…north Korea has been caught digging at least four tunnels (a 5^th one has allegedly been found, but due to the timing of the find, it wasn’t officially announced, and still isn’t recognized) under the DMZ, into south Korea…the 3^rd tunnel was actually discovered by the south on my birthday…(the actual day I was born!)…it’s size would allow 10,000 north Korean soldiers per hour to get into south Korea…when the south found it, the north tried to say that it was the south who’d actually dug it…again with the blame game…there is a small museum and theatre set up, visitors can also descend into part of the tunnel…there are now three blockages, so no one can try to get into north Korea by going backwards…the descent into the tunnel is quite steep, and there is water dripping all over the place…the guys digging the tunnel back when must’ve been miserable…I wonder how long it took? The powers that be reckon north Korea is still digging, but is better at hiding it now; the south is constantly searching…the 4^th tunnel was discovered in the 1990s…as far as I know, the 3^rd tunnel is the only one open to the public…

After everyone had the chance to go into the tunnel, we all got back on the bus…our third and last stop before lunch was at the dora observatory…it’s on dora mountain, and from this building you can see a bit of north Korea…there are binoculars that allow you to see even farther, though I’ve never used them…you’re only allowed to take photos from behind a certain line, as otherwise you might be photographing a Korean military installation, and they’re not cool with that…the fat lady from Texas sitting in front of hana and me on the bus seemed completely oblivious to this GIANT YELLOW LINE, and was clicking away until a Korean soldier came up to her and pointed out the line…then he watched as she erased the photos she’d taken…how does anyone miss that line?

Then finally, lunch…by that point, I think all of us were starving…or at least it felt that way…the bus drove us to a cafeteria of sorts, where we had two choices…bulgogi or bibimbap…all three of us went for bibimbap…there were plenty of side dishes to go along with it, and as has become the norm lately, my eyes were bigger than my tummy…there were more side dishes (including tater tots!!) on the bulgogi side, but I was stuffed…even so, hana got me a couple tater tots because I said how much I wanted them…(sometimes you have to give into cravings, right?)

After an hour or so, the bus drove us to our final stop of the tour…dorasan station…there is a railroad that goes between north and south…it was built during the previous south Korean government, during the sunshine policy days…(the current south Korean president, lee myung bak, has taken a much harder line toward the north and is making it work harder)…the idea was that people could ride the trains in between the two countries, and that economic ties would help bind the economies…the line does run all the way to this station in the south, on a regular basis…the people who live in the DMZ on the south side take the train to this station, then catch a bus to their village…the train actually did run into the north for a brief while in 2007, but only cargo trains were allowed then…never any people…inside the station they have commemorative stamps, you can use them to stamp the waiver you signed when you went into the JSA area…(this is the waiver acknowledging that you might be shot, and that it’s your own stupid fault if that happens, not the fault of the US or south Korean governments)…you used to be able to stamp your passport, but not anymore…(my old passport has this stamp, from the last time I did this tour)…you can also buy tickets to the train…500won, a whopping 50cents each…that allows you out onto the train platform, where you can take photos and such…hana wasn’t keen on buying the tickets, but mom and I thought it could be fun…and at that price, even if it wasn’t fun, who cares?

And then, we drove back to seoul…I think most people fell asleep on the way back…it had been a long-ish day of driving around and seeing stuff…the only thing we didn’t see was the friendship bridge…the first tour of the DMZ I took saw this bridge, but this one didn’t…I don’t know why…after returning to the USO carpark, hana mom and I went straightaway to the coffee shop that hadn’t been open in the morning…more as a place to gather our thoughts and figure out what to do with the rest of the day than anything else…we ended up deciding to go to myeongdong, a shopping area of seoul…

And by shopping, I don’t mean kitchy souvenirs…I mean full on shopping…clothes, food, etc…it’s super crowded most of the time…by the time we got there, I was way out of it…hana and I looked through one of my favourite stores, but neither one of us could be bothered to try anything on…it was too much work…on the way out of the area, back to the subway station, hana and I stopped at a dunkin donuts…one of their first days in seoul, after we’d seen a palace and had donuts for dessert, we saw that DD currently has spinach, tomato/carrot and broccoli donuts…at the time we didn’t try any of them, but this day seemed like a good day to do so…hana and I split a spinach donut…it wasn’t very interesting…it was sweet and green, but didn’t taste anything like spinach…gutted!