DMZ tour

Our last weekend in Korea we went with a group of friends to Seoul to visit the DMZ. The DMZ is the area between North and South Korea (De-Militarized Zone). I think it was about 250 miles long, and I'm not sure how wide, but it was pretty big. Anyway, we all took the midnight bus to Seoul after work on Friday night. It's a 4 1/2 hour trip so that got us into Seoul around 5am. We were pretty tired all day since we really didn't get any sleep. I think I got about 1 hour in total. But we were going to be taking the bus the DMZ at 7am, so we didn't have much time to sleep anywhere. We just hung out at the bus station and ate some food in a restaurant there.
It was pretty funny in the restaurant watching this table of women putting on make-up for well over an hour. It was hilarious! They were trying to perfect their look for the entire time we were there. We snapped a picture or two when they weren't looking.
The bus ride to the DMZ was about 45 minutes long. Our tour guide was hilarious! He was an English speaking Korean man with huge sunglasses. He was trying to tell jokes the entire time, but we usually didn't understand what he was saying. He had a great vocabulary I think but he spoke so fast and mumbled that we didn't catch a lot of what he was saying. But he was great though; amusing.
When we entered the DMZ we had to get a pat-down and have our passports checked. There were two places we had to be checked before we could continue. It wasn't a big deal at all, but it was supposed to be all official I think.
when we stopped there, we joined up with another couple tour guides. These guys were from the US Military and were stationed in South Korea for a year or two. Their entire job was to guide tours of the DMZ. They were pretty cool guys and much easier to understand.
Basically we drove through some areas of the DMZ while the guide talked about some of the sites. I can't remember everything about that.
We stopped at an area where the meetings between the two Koreas were held. There were a few buildings placed right in the middle of the dividing line making them in both South and North Korea. These were some of the buildings they had meetings in.
All around these buildings were guards. These guards were called "rock soldiers". They just stood there like statues, or "rocks" I guess. There job was to stand there and keep watch. They looked like wax statues being so still.
Two of the rock soldiers stood with half of their body shielded by a building and the other half sticking out keeping watch over the large North Korean building ( I don't know the names of these buildings). It was pretty cool. We were told not to make any gestures or point at North Korea. The North Koreans had cameras on all of us and would be able to use pointing or laughing or anything like that as propaganda for war. So, the tour could be ended if people were to do that. Of course, there were a few morons who didn't listen to them as far as picture taking.
We had the opportunity to go into one of the buildings where the meetings were held. That was our chance to step on North Korean soil (or at least North Korean flooring). The dividing line ran through the center of the meeting place. On the table in the middle of the meeting place was a flag signifying the center boundary separating the two Koreas. There were two rock soldiers there that we could take pictures of. But we were not allowed to go too close to them or they would likely take us down. I got a nice shot with one guy though.
After that we went back in the bus and drove some more. We went to the top of a hill and pulled over. From there we could get a good look at "Propaganda City" and some watch towers. Nobody lives in Propaganda City. I'm not exactly sure why it is called by that name but they use it to hoist flags and other "propaganda" I guess. Anyway, the largest flag in the world is flying there. Apparently the South Koreans had a really big flag flying there and the North Koreans had to "one-up" them, so they built the largest flag in the world and hoisted it much higher than the South Koreans flag. I can't remember the weight of the flag but I think it was over 400 pounds if I remember correctly. Anyway, it was huge.
After that they took us by a tree monument. This tree thing was a big deal. There was a tree that grew over the years and blocked a South Korean watch tower from seeing another South Korean watch tower. When they went to chop it down, the North Koreans attacked them and killed some soldiers. The next attempt was successful since they took a large army with them. But they have a monument set up there now.
The other thing that I remember was the "bridge of no return". After the war when the US military came in and aided South Korea. The North Korean peasants were given the choice to enter go back to North Korea or go to South Korea. If they chose to go to South Korea they could not return. Many did choose this and were separated from their families and friends. It wasn't until many years later that some families were able to reunite. But they are still not able to cross over. Some of the buildings that we toured were where these meetings of families took place I think.
Next we headed to the tunnels. After the DMZ was established after the war, the North Koreans tried to sneak in from behind and attack the South Koreans. To do this they began digging tunnels. How they did this, I don't know. These tunnels were pure rock. Anyway, the tunnels took them years to dig. After the North Koreans succeeded in digging a tunnel, the South Koreans realized that there could be more. So they began drilling holes into the ground and pouring water down. If the water splashed at the bottom they would know there was a tunnel. I suppose this would have taken a long time. But as the years went by they discovered three tunnels. The tunnels were made 75 meters deep and wide enough for a small army to travel through. We got to tour about 400 meters of the largest tunnel. It was amazing how they had made these tunnels. Of course they were not built for tall people, so I had to bend down for most of the walking and it wasn't very comfortable. The end of the tour part of the tunnel was sealed off with barbed wire in front of it.
I forgot to mention that we had a lot of briefings on each area visited and we were able to see a nice view of the DMZ. There were some binoculars we could use at the viewpoint too. It was pretty cool. Not the most thrilling of adventures, but a very informative and interesting one.
It was a worthwhile experience I think. It helped me understand Korea's present state a little more.


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