RUN DMZ

Nothing on our trip so far has left us scratching our heads as much as Korea’s Demilitarized Zone. A little background, the DMZ is about a 2.5 mile wide buffer zone running the length of the border between North and South. Both sides essentially agreed to a cease-fire in the 50s and withdrew troops from the border, creating this no man’s land.

Heading into this, I knew the basics about it, and by that I mean I knew it was the border of North and South Korea, but not much as to how it came to be. It turns out that after WW2, allied forces (USA and the Soviet Union) went to Korea to “temporarily” occupy the country so they could essentially kick Imperial Japan out and help Korea create a unified government. General MacAurthor said the US would handle everything south of the 38th parallel, and the Soviets would handle all of the surrendering forces north. All down hill from there. Eventually the US and Soviets couldn’t agree on terms to a free election and each backed their own rulers. Then boom, the Korean War.

On a side note, it turns out that the US actually still has control and command over S. Korea’s military forces in the event of a military conflict. A point of contention with some of the younger generation.

Today the DMZ and Joint Security Area (which is an area with a building that actually straddles the border) can be visited from the North and the South. Being a highly controlled area, you have to book an official and preapproved tour to enter the JSA.

From the North, there is a lot of red tape, and as you can imagine, it is all business and incredibly serious. No looking at the man behind the curtain. Plus, there are some serious moral questions about whether or not you should be paying money to a regime like that of North Korea.

In the South, it’s a bit more of a spectacle. There are countless companies offering prearranged air-conditioned packages to visit the DMZ for somewhere in the $70ish range. Or see both the DMZ and JSA for about $150. Or you can do what we did and take the subway as far as it goes and book a DMZ-only tour from there for $11. Upon arriving to Imjingak (keep in mind that this station’s entire purpose is to act as a staging point for tourist visiting the DMZ), I was surprised to see the amusement park that is built right next door. I’m not Korean, but to me this seemed to be the equivalent of New York somehow moving Coney Island right next to Ground Zero. Once you arrive and go past the amusement park, and the tiny special train, there’s a few exhibits showcasing the history behind the area, the two countries, and the ongoing conflict.

A quick bus ride past a military checkpoint brings you to the Third Tunnel station. Years after the ceasefire, and years after the DMZ was created, the South found a number of tunnels built by the North for the purpose of launching a surprise land attack on Seoul. Tunnel 3 or “Third Tunnel of Aggression” is about a mile long and 250 feet deep in the bed rocks. They say 30,000 can pass through in an hour. The city of Panmunjom has built their own tunnel and tram to shuttle tourists down to the actual tunnel.

North Koreans soldiers must be considerably shorter or have terrible posture because even the tiniest of Korean grandmothers on our tour had to spend most of their time ducking. The tunnel is eventually blocked off to stop you from going to far towards the border with the north…and of course to help stop any invaders.

After the tunnel, the bus takes you to the Dorasan Observatory where you can actually look into North Korea. Unfortunately it was extra cloudy and foggy on this day, so you couldn’t see a ton.

You could make out a little bit of Propaganda City. These were “state of the art” modern apartment building built to entice the poor farmers in the South and make them see how awesome the North was. It was later realized that the apartments were actually just empty shells with cardboard cut outs and lights on timers. No one actually lived there. Ever. There were even prerecorded announcements that went off at different times of the day to give the perception of a busy city. Apparently North Korea adopted the Kevin McCalister technique of defense.

We did manage to capture this shot well past the “No pictures beyond this point” line of some South Korean soldiers on their daily observation of the North. I can’t help but think of some ridiculous Far Side type caption when looking at this picture. Feel free to make up your own.

After the observation deck it was on to Dorasan Station. This is a brand new, hardly ever used, state of the art Rail Station. It theoretically is supposed to be the jumping off point for a Trans Siberian/ Trans Korean rail line that would connect the two countries if they were ever united…but it mostly serves as a symbol of hope. A tax payer funded, very expensive symbol of hope.

The more we saw, heard, and later read about the North, and the South’s perception of the North. The more dumbfounded we were.

Imagine living in constant fear that at any moment Canada might just go crazy and bomb and/or launch a land attack on America. Or imagine there was just a giant wall prohibiting any access to Mexico. (oh wait…never mind I won’t go there). The sort of self-imposed isolationism the North embraces is absolutely baffling.

After visiting the area, do I think there will ever be a united Korea? No. Perhaps for no other reason then the fact that the South’s most visited tourist attraction is in fact the DMZ.

Do I think there could be some sort of open border and trade between the two countries? Maybe, but doubtful.

The amount of brainwashing that the general populous of the North has undergone is enough to fill the syllabus of every Psych class in every University on the planet. Forever. And the absolutely obscene oppression and starvation of its people while a tiny elite few take billions and billions of Chinese dollars and live a lifestyle of lavish spending that would make MC Hammer and Lindsay Lohan blush is enough to make even the most extreme Tea Party 99percenter say, “Yeaaaaa, it’s not so bad here.”

One positive effect of this no-mans-land is that it has been reclaimed by nature and has become a special ecological area. There are a number of endangered plants and animal species that are starting to thrive in this unintended nature preserve. So perhaps there’s a take away here for what can happen when we humans just get out of our own way and leave things alone.

From North Korea, with love.

(Just kidding, Mom)

Will+Sara