DMZ - this is a loooong post

Yesterday I went to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It was an organized tour through the USO. I went with Leesa and her parents, who are visiting from Vancouver.The bus left at 7.30am from Seoul. We all had to abide by a dress code and bring our passports. The dress code was to wear runners, no sandals, and appropriate clothing, pants, a t-shirt. Runners were necessary in case we had to run. We had to provide our passports when we registered for the tour and when we were on the bus.

The DMZ is only 45km from Seoul. The tour consisted of three parts. The first part was to Camp Boniface and the Joint Security Area (JSA). We arrived at the Camp, which is a UN camp, and all the UN personnel that work here live in the camp. There are about 700 people, mostly from South Korea and the US, and a few from Canada, Australia, NZ and the UK. Our guide, (insert military rank here) Rashkin said that he and all the other soldiers working in the JSA are much more highly educated and trained than other military officers. They must have immaculate civilian and military records to be even considered for those positions. He also said that the SK personnel are educated abroad and are more educated than he is. Once we arrived at the camp, we left the tour bus and boarded another bus from the UN. We drove to a debriefing building where we saw a slide show about the area and the reason why the JSA is there. They talked about the most recent violent events from the last 30 years. The first major one was in 1976. A work crew was sent by SK to a spot to trim an alder tree that was obstructing the view UN personel. NK soldiers came over and started interrogating the workers. Two US military personnel stepped in and ended up getting murdered with the axes that the workers were using. Four NK soldiers were also killed. After this, it was decided that neither party could cross over onto the other party's side. The other occurred in 1984. A Russian civilian was visiting the north side and ran across the line and through a building on the south. A gunfight ensued. I believe some NK soldiers were killed, but the Ruskie survived.

After the slide show, we got back on the buses and headed the central part of the town of Punmunjom (the de facto city established after the war, right on the border). Freedom Hall is the building that was supposed to be used for talks between the two parties, but has never been used for that purpose. The bus pulled up to this building and we got out and lined up. My group went outside to the back of the building, where we could see the North Korean security building, several guards, watchtowers and many security cameras and sound devices. Six JSA soldiers are on constant watch to the North. Between where we were standing were 3 smaller buildings and a road. The small buildings are used for any negotiations between the two sides. While we were standing there, a guard from NK came out of his building and watched us with binoculars. We were not allowed to make any gestures towards them as anything could be used as propaganda towards SK. We then went into the small building. Half of it belongs to NK and the other half the South. Three guards are in this room at all times. At one time, there were only 2, but some NK soldiers tried to pull an SK guard through their door one day. Everything about this area and this room are operated with a strict routine, from locking the doors, to the guard changes. All activity within the room is monitored by both countries with sound and video equipment.

We left the building and got back on the bus. We traveled to a lookout point where were could see a large panoramic of NK. The first major part is the Propaganda Village. This looks like a medium sized town, with several buildings and a very large flag pole. The town is mostly deserted however. Kim Jung-il broadcast 10-12 hours of propaganda through the town. Another part was a tower on a hill that we could see in the distance. This tower is to block all radio, television and cellular signals from entering North Korea. This lookout was also one part of the JSA that was surrounded by NK on three sides.

After this we went to The Bridge of No Return. I think it was when the DMZ was established after the Korean war, that all people living within this area were brought to this bridge and given the opportunity to choose which country they wanted to live in, but when they crossed over into that country, they would never be able to return. This was the site where the axe murders occurred.

The buses then left this area and we headed back to the camp. The area between the camp and the Freedom Hall was an area that we were not allowed to take any pictures. We crossed through a massive tank wall and saw the electric fence that runs along the actual border. There is barbed wire fencing running along all roads and around all rice fields. The area is heavily land mined and is considered extremely dangerous. Rashkin joked about not seeing any three legged dear lately. But really, its true and one way to know that there are plenty of mines left.

We got back onto the regular tour buses and then travelled to a South Korean army lookout. It was a public facility so there were lots of regular tourists. By regular tourists I mean Koreans. I don't think that they are allowed to go on the tour through the USO, because of you know, issues.

The third part of the tour was to visit the 3rd Tunnel. This tunnel was found in 1978 and built by NK. Its now a pretty sophisticated tourist attraction. We saw a video about the DMZ and the effort towards peace between the countries and eventual reunification. After was a small exhibit about the Korean War and recent conflicts between the two countries. Then we went into the tunnel. It was 1.5 km long. We had to walk down a long platform to get to it, and I felt really claustrophobic once inside. We had to wear hard hats because the jagged rocky ceiling of the tunnel could be pretty dangerous if one walked into it too fast. We walked to the end of the tunnel, where SK had constructed 4 barricades, so no one would be able to get through on either side. We weren't supposed to bring our cameras here either. I did anyway and got some candid yet blurry shots. We got back on the bus and headed back to Seoul. The bus was playing a video about the Korean War, that was clearly from an American perspective. It had some good information, however it was corny.

The whole day was definitely the coolest thing I've done since I've been here. It was a very surreal experience. Once we were back in the city, I felt strange knowing how close the conflict is to the city. It is one of the most dangerous places in the world. Not because of the ongoing violence, but the potential for danger and violence. As the DMZ is 4 km wide and nearly 260 km long, with no human activity within it for the last 50 years, it is one of the most protected natural places in the world.

During the whole day, two things would not get out of my mind. The first was the movie Team America: World Police, because its the best ridicule of Kim Jong-il anyone has ever done. The second thing is that with all the talks and the media coverage about the two countries getting along and talking peace and rainbows and butterflies, I just don't buy it. When we were traveling to the 3rd tunnel, we learned that a 4th tunnel was found in 1990, and SK suspects another 20 more tunnels exist. That last tunnel was found only 17 years before. A dictator in a communist country with that much military power does not just give up. Kim Il-sun was in power for so long, but Kim Jong-il has done his own stuff, like nuclear testing. I just don't trust the situation. One other thing we learned was about defectors, or people that try to get into SK. Rashkin said a few years ago, 2 young boys, about 14 years old, were washed down the river that flows into SK before going to the ocean. These boys were given the choice of staying in SK or going back to the North. They chose to go back. Turns out that if the NK government finds out about anyone defecting, they arrest all remaining family members and send them to a type of concentration camp that mirrors hell, with no chance of getting out. In the reading I've done since I've been back from the tour, I've learned that North Korea has the 4th most powerful army in the world. Kim Jung-il was the minister responsible for the military before he succeeded his father as the leader, and during his time in that position, he was said to have ordered a bombing in Rangoon, Burma in 1983, that killed 15 visiting South Korean officials. It is also believed that he directly ordered a bombing of a Korean Air plane, killing 115 people in 1987. Kim Jong-il has also appointed himself to two positions that make him the leader of the government, the military and the country. However he does not hold the title of President. By not being President, he is exempt from calling elections that would possibly end his dictatorship. Kim has also spent $20 million on importing 200 luxury Mercedez Benz sedans. He is an avid film and music fan. He has been married once, a marriage he was forced into by his father. That marriage produced one child, and he has 3 other children by two misstresses.