Unluckily, the rain was pouring down all day as we arrived on time at 07.30 at "Camp Kim USO" [aka US Overseas]. From here, tours (under tight US soldier-led supervision - armed soldiers accompany each coach) visit the 2.5 mile/4km wide demilitarised buffer zone which runs from coast to coast for 160 miles/250km to separate the still-technically-at-war Korean nations.
With US squaddies telling you not to make eye contact with N Korean guards nor to take photos of an innocuous grey building beyond the S Korean line, the whole affair feels surreal and you might even think slightly staged. But no one is laughing; the waiver document to sign while producing our passports confirms our understanding that "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action" - in reality, between 1953 and 1999, sporadic outbreaks of violence along the DMZ have killed over 500 S Korean soldiers, 50 US soldiers and 250 DPRK soldiers. No tourists so far.
With US squaddies telling you not to make eye contact with N Korean guards nor to take photos of an innocuous grey building beyond the S Korean line, the whole affair feels surreal and you might even think slightly staged. But no one is laughing; the waiver document to sign while producing our passports confirms our understanding that "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action" - in reality, between 1953 and 1999, sporadic outbreaks of violence along the DMZ have killed over 500 S Korean soldiers, 50 US soldiers and 250 DPRK soldiers. No tourists so far.
The tour started with an interesting lecture at Camp Bonifas
to recap how the war came about, how the Korean peninsula came to be divided at the 38th parallel after the end of WW2 : at the Dec 1945 Moscow Conference, the Allies (broadly US, UK and Soviet Union) had agreed that they and the Republic of China would take part in a trusteeship over Korea for up to 5 years in the expectation of some form of independence; this was however almost-inevitably stymied by the Cold War and increasingly polarised politics and positions, culminatiing in invasion by Soviet-backed N Korean Communist forces of S Korea on 25 June 1950; the Northern forces initially overran much of the South until they were pushed back by a US-led United Nations intervention which itself occupied most of the North, until Chinese forces weighed in on 26 October 1950 and restored Communist control of the Northern portion, forcing a UN retreat toward the 38th parallel line. A status quo having been reinstated, "negotiations" continued into 1953 when an Armistice was signed and Chinese troops withdrew from N Korea. The state of war has never formally been concluded... you know the rest
to recap how the war came about, how the Korean peninsula came to be divided at the 38th parallel after the end of WW2 : at the Dec 1945 Moscow Conference, the Allies (broadly US, UK and Soviet Union) had agreed that they and the Republic of China would take part in a trusteeship over Korea for up to 5 years in the expectation of some form of independence; this was however almost-inevitably stymied by the Cold War and increasingly polarised politics and positions, culminatiing in invasion by Soviet-backed N Korean Communist forces of S Korea on 25 June 1950; the Northern forces initially overran much of the South until they were pushed back by a US-led United Nations intervention which itself occupied most of the North, until Chinese forces weighed in on 26 October 1950 and restored Communist control of the Northern portion, forcing a UN retreat toward the 38th parallel line. A status quo having been reinstated, "negotiations" continued into 1953 when an Armistice was signed and Chinese troops withdrew from N Korea. The state of war has never formally been concluded... you know the rest
Back on the bus, next stop was the Joint Security Area (JSA - the "Truce Village"), the only portion of the DMZ where opposing forces face off. It's used for diplomatic engagements and, until 1991, was the site of military negotiations between N Korea and UN Command - the Conference Room, complete with shiny tables and table-top microphones (which allegedly the North Koreans keep on to eavesdrop)
is the only place where we're likely to stand in "North Korea" (ie over the line in the N Korean half of the room) for a good while.
is the only place where we're likely to stand in "North Korea" (ie over the line in the N Korean half of the room) for a good while.
The visibility was so bad we could barely make out the enormous (160m) flagpole erected on the North Korean
side (in prompt response to S Korea's 100m pole),
although we could hear the N Koreans' chirpy music, played on a constant loop to tempt the inhabitants of a village on the S Korean side of the border to cross over to paradise on the other side.
The poor guide - and the squaddies who were explaining about where were we standing, in the rain, as looked over at the equivalent N Korean building with its soldier guards -
although we could hear the N Koreans' chirpy music, played on a constant loop to tempt the inhabitants of a village on the S Korean side of the border to cross over to paradise on the other side.
The poor guide - and the squaddies who were explaining about where were we standing, in the rain, as looked over at the equivalent N Korean building with its soldier guards -
kept apologising for the weather, but of course sadly that's the way it goes...
Lunch was in the soldiers' canteen
and the afternoon took us to one of four "infiltration tunnels" which South Korea was told about by a N Korean who escaped across the border. Apparently, N Korea started out by denying that there was any such tunnel but then acknowledged it, claiming that it was part of a coal mine (the walls of the tunnel are indeed blackened by construction explosions but they're evidently granite, rather than sedimentary which they'd have to be for coal to be present.
And then to Dorasan railway station - the northernmost stop in the country on the Gyeongui line, which once connected North and South Korea.
The tour tries to leave with you an upbeat message about the DMZ : that the years of quiet have left the wildlife untouched.
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