DMZ Tour

Saturday, we took a tour of the DMZ.  The DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.  Before WWII, Korea was under Japanese control.  After Japan's defeat at the end of WWII, the US and Russia divided Korea into two countries.  North Korea became communist with Russia, and South Korea was free with the United States.  The border between the two countries was fought over for three years (the Korean War) and finally settled upon back where it started -- which is the 38th parallel or Demarcation Line.  After the Korean War, each country moved its armies 2km from the actual border line, and this "buffer zone" between the two countries became the Demilitarized Zone, aka DMZ.  Here's a map to give you a better idea:

You can see how close Seoul is to the DMZ.  We didn't have far to drive on our tour to get there.  Our first stop was on the South Korean border outside the Demilitarized Zone.  It's a town called Imjingak.  The kids loved this little South Korean soldier statue.

We walked out onto the Freedom Bridge.  This was the bridge built to exchange prisoners of war after the Korean War ended.  More than 12,000 prisoners were exchanged.  The bridge is no longer in use.  This was as far as we could go.

While we were walking on the bridge, this man fell in love with Emma.  Suddenly he was holding her hand to have his friend take a picture.  I'm not sure how many his friend took; it was a lot. 

Then before we knew it, he was holding Emma for more pictures.  Our tour was on a very rigid time schedule.  He took so many pictures, we weren't sure if we would get back in time! I had to take pictures of them taking pictures, because it's still so funny to me.

Next we stopped at a permanent altar built here in Imjingak. 

This was such a sad place for me.  It really hit home how torn apart the people of Korea really are.  This is an area where South Koreans come every year to mourn those loved ones, both living and dead, that remain in North Korea.  They picked this place because it was as close as they could get to their homes and loved ones across the border.  Finally, the South Korean government built a permanent altar for the people. Again I thought of Jake.  It was a difficult thing for me to leave his grave in DC when we moved here.  For me though, I can always return and visit.  My heart went out to those people who can never return to their loved ones burial sites because of a government in the North that is so selfish.

Next, we headed into the DMZ.  Any vehicle passing through needs to have permission to enter, so you get stopped here by these border guards.  

There were some interesting pieces of art at our next stop. 

I loved this one.  The people on the outsides are pushing the two Koreas back together.  The insides of the fractured sphere have the maps of both countries.  I loved the symbolism.

Unfortunately these were the only pictures we could take at the 3rd tunnel.  This is the place where the South discovered tunnels the North was digging to invade.  As the name suggests, this isn't the first tunnel they found.  There have been four found, the last as late as the 90s, and they are sure there are many more undiscovered.  We were allowed to walk down in to the 3rd tunnel.  Every once in a while I'm reminded of how much taller I am than the average Korean.  This was one of those times.  The tunnel was created so several thousand North Koreans could travel quickly through.  Tall foreigners, not so much.  We were given hard hats to wear, and at first, I thought that was a bit excessive.  I mean, who really hits their head in places like this, right?  I couldn't believe how many loud bonking noises I heard in the tunnel from all the tall tourists hitting their hard hats on the low ceiling.  It was actually quite comical.  I'm glad I did this tour, but I was also glad it was over.  It was a really long walk, crouching the entire time.

The other thing that made me shake my head on the tour, was the great lengths to which the North Koreans will lie.  In an effort to cover their tracks while making the tunnels, just in case they were found, they painted them with black coal dust.  After the South discovered them, the North claimed they were mining for coal, not trying to invade the South.  Why then had they dug them into South Korea?  Why is there absolutely no coal in this area what so ever?  I'm ever impressed with the North's ability to lie.  Here's another example.  This is the Dora Observatory.  It has the best view from the South into the North.  From here you can look through binoculars to get a better view.

Unfortunately, you're only allowed to take pictures from behind a line quite a distance from the balcony.  These were the best pictures I could get.  (I found a better one on the internet that I included.)  This is what is called the Propaganda City.  

The North built it near the border to show the South how prosperous it is.  When it was built, this was the tallest flag pole in the world.  Next to it is a statue dedicated to Kim Il Sung, the "Dear Leader."  It is one of 25,000 statues built in the North to honor Kim Il Sung.  The reason this is the Propaganda City, however, is because these building are only shells.  The insides were never completed.  It's sad to see how the North chooses to spend its money.  Rather than feeding its people, it spends thousands of dollars to keep up a facade of wealth.  Great choice.

Our final stop was Dorasan Station.   This train station was built to connect to all the railway in the North as a gesture of peace.  Unfortunately for South Korea, while they are situated on a peninsula, it might as well be an island.  They are blocked off from the rest of the world by a crazy leader to the north.  In order to travel outside the country, it must be by airplane.  If the two countries were reunited, however, one could travel all the way to Europe from this train station.

 We took a picture with a South Korean guard.

While at the train station we stopped to use the bathroom.  I've never seen this before so had to take a picture.  When you go into the stall and lock the door, the word occupied lights up in three different languages on this little picture on the stall door.  So fun!

That was the end of our tour.  I think the biggest ah-ha moment for me was how much our country has helped South Korea.  For me, growing up in the US, I was always taught that the Korean War was a failed war.  One that accomplished very little.  Living here in Korea now, though, I can see how much we did for the South Koreans.  The South is so prosperous.  There is freedom here.  I'm not trying to claim I know everything about war and whether or not thousands of lives should have been lost during the war, but looking into North Korea and thinking about all the people starving and trying to just survive day to day, I hate to think of what life would be like here in the South had our country not fought to stop the Communist invasion.