Run DMZ

    Ok. Before we begin, I need to make sure we are all on exactly the same page. At this point in time, I'm not entirely sure who all is reading my blog because I have been getting the occasional random comment, and every now and again someone will tell me, "Oh yeah! I sent So-And-So the link to your blog cuz I just know they'll love it!" (Which is completely flattering, by the way! I am beside myself with all the great feedback I get on this silly little blog of mine, so a million times thank you for all the wonderful support, my loves!). But bearing the fact of this circulation in mind, I feel the need to adequately prepare my audience for this post. I feel like I would not normally be quite as concerned with this kind of briefing sesh, but I got real worried before I came to this country when I announced, "I'm going to Korea to teach English!" and about 50% of the responses I received were along the lines of, "Really?! North or South??" Oy. Really, people??? So please allow me to take this moment to remind everyone that North Korea is currently, and has for quite some time, been an oppressive and devastatingly communist country in which even its own citizens are held prisoner. So please try to keep this in mind. 

In case you are a visual learner......

    Now that we've blasted through the grey areas, let's get to this thing! This past Sunday, Rachel, Misty, and I ventured north to the elusive and mysterious Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Ever since the end of the Korean war, the Korean peninsula has been divided roughly in half, creating two very distinct countries; communist North Korea, and capitalist South Korea. In between lies the DMZ. It is a strip of land, approximately 4km (2.5mi) wide, that runs from one side of the peninsula to the other and serves as a buffer zone between the two countries. The borders for each country lie at the north and south edges of this zone and the area in the middle is a no-man-zone. Both limit lines, however, are remarkably well protected  making the North/South Korean border the most heavily militarized border in the world. From the south, the military has pushed the "free zone" back from the Southern Limit Line (SLL) by about 2km (1.2mi) and there is a military check point in place here. Anyone who wishes to go beyond this point must be authorized by the military. The area between the military check point and the SLL is called the civilian control zone, and this is where you go if you take a DMZ tour. 

 

    As we headed north on the road to the check point, it became abundantly clear when we were getting close. All of a sudden, fences with barbed wire twisted and tangled at the top lined the edge of every inch of the highway, and about every half a kilometer or so, we could see a military watchtower, complete with heavily-armed soldiers, whiz past the windows of the bus. Being only 3.5km from North Korea at this point, the fences are in place to keep spies and refugees out. 

Don't mess with South Korea

      Directly outside the military check point at Tong Il Bridge is the site of the Peace Bell and the Freedom Bridge, and our first stop on the tour. This is the place where many South Koreans come on Chuseok and Lunar New Year to bow toward the north and pay respect to their families and elders who are still in North Korea. It is a very sacred, yet somber, place as it marks the disconnect between the progress achieved through the creation of the DMZ and the monumental lack of progress achieved toward reuniting the divided Korean peninsula.

Last stop south of the military check point

Prayer ribbons hung by those whose families are still in North Korea

The Freedom Bridge where the north and south exchanged their prisoners after the war

The Freedom Bridge train tracks heading into the north, behind gobs of barbed wire fence

Soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the area

The Peace Bell that is rung every Chuseok and Lunar New Year to represent hope for a unified Korea.

    After we had thoroughly absorbed the novelties of our first stop on this once-in-a-lifetime tour, it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Our bus chugged onward across Tong Il Bridge and rolled to a slow stop at the military check point. A South Korean soldier boarded the bus at this point and began inspection. We had previously been instructed by our tour guide to have our passports open to the picture page and to hold them up next to our faces and smile for the soldier during inspection.... so that's what we did! It felt a little eerie to be scrutinized in this way, but at the same time there was something comforting about the fact that this was a South Korean soldier who was here to protect us. Photography is strictly forbidden on Tong Il Bridge to protect the integrity of South Korea's defenses, so unfortunately I have no pictures for this part. After we passed inspection, our bus pulled forward into the civilian control zone.

    As I mentioned before, everything past the security check point is by authorization only, but it is in fact considered a town. The name of the town is Daeseong-dong and it is part of the propaganda that exists between North and South Korea. Each side has a town close to the border that can be seen by the opposite side and they use these towns to try and display how well their country is doing compared to the other. The North Korean equivalent is Kijong-dong, although you can hardly call it an equivalent. I'll go into that, though, when I get to the part about when we could see North Korea. There are people who live in Daeseong-dong, all farmers, and they apparently work for the government. They are exempt from taxes and military obligations and make ₩100,000,000 (approximately $100,000 US) a year. This is all because they are living in a literal "Danger Zone." Other than these few residents, soldiers, and bus tourists, however, there is no one else in Daeseong-dong so its a little creepy.

    We stopped for lunch at probably the only restaurant in Daeseong-Dong which is on a soy bean farm. This place is famous for their soy beans because South Korean propaganda hypes up every crop that comes out of the control zone. At this particular restaurant, they like to serve a special fermented soy bean soup, so outside there are hundreds of kimchi pots filled with soy beans in various stages of fermentation. And it stinks. I mean stinks! The entire area smells like sweaty, wet, rotting feet! 

    This is where we're supposed to eat?! WT*?!

    I thought maybe once we got inside it would be better, but silly me, I didn't think about the fact that inside the restaurant they are cooking these fermented beans and therefore the smell is exacerbated. Needless to say, I was slightly put off my appetite, so unfortunately I was not able to enjoy the traditional Korean meal (yes, we sat on the floor again... stop laughing!). Once I found out that it consisted of dried minnows, foamy fermented soy bean soup, and a couple other strange side dishes, I wasn't too bummed about my lack of appetite, though. A couple bites of steamed white rice and I was over it.

Stinky feet soybean pots

My new favorite restaurant

Lunch

    Moving on from lunch only slightly traumatized, we headed over to see the 3rd Tunnel, which is an infiltration tunnel the North Koreans dug beneath the DMZ after the war in hopes of a sneak attack on South Korea. When we got there, we first watched a film about the DMZ (loaded with South Korean propaganda) and walked through a mini-museum with information about the Korean War and the history of the DMZ. Then.... it was tunnel time! Pictures, again, are strictly forbidden in the tunnel for the safety of South Korea, so unfortunately I don't have anything but the memory to share with you. I will do my best though.

    The tunnel is 73m (239ft) below the surface and is approximately 1 mile long in its entirety.  The tour takes you 253m (830ft) in, which brings you right up to the North Korean edge. It's super creepy because A - you're way far down underground, 2 - you are surrounded by jagged granite rocks and cold, dripping water without even enough room to stand up straight, and C - you end up looking through a peep hole past a wall of jumbled, tangled barbed wire into the realm of North Korea! I couldn't help but think of that scene from The Lion King when the hyenas are trying to scare one another by saying, "Mufasa!" because every time the words "North Korea" went through my head as I peered through the hole, I got the chills. 

    

    Now, as I said, pictures at this point are strictly forbidden. They won't even let you bring your camera down with you. So needless to say, I was a little irked when a little Korean man whipped out his phone and started snapping illegal pictures at the end of the tunnel. 

    Ahneeyo! Ahneeyo, dude! I don't know you! And I am not about to get tossed over onto the North Korean side, guilty by association, just because you can't follow the damn directions!

    It was at this juncture that Rachel and I decided we had had enough fun and high-tailed it back to the surface.

The 3rd Tunnel Museum

This is the entrance to the tunnel. It's the closest I was allowed to take my camera.

Wae-gook'in it up at the DMZ

This is the courtyard at the 3rd Tunnel Museum. See that fence by the woods in the background? That's the SLL! The 3rd Tunnel is the closest you can get to the DMZ from South Korea.

    At this "half-point" in the tour, I am going to break and continue with the rest of the story tomorrow. I don't want to overwhelm you with information, but I don't want to leave out any juicy details either, so we'll do it in doses. Stay tuned tomorrow for the gripping conclusion of Run DMZ when we look out over North Korea and walk the only set of train tracks leading into the north! 

And of course, another blog post means another visit from Creepy Steve! Enjoy!

  

As if one of him wasn't enough.....