This weekend I finally crossed the DMZ off my bucket list. The DMZ is a 4km section of land that divides North and South. It is the most heavily militarized boarder in the world, and driving there you can definitely notice. All along the highway on both the North and South Korean sides there are multiple layers of barbwire fencing with military watch houses every 500m.
When we arrived we needed to registrar to enter the area, and have the tour bus checked by a South Korean guard. Once we were registered we were free to explore. First on the agenda we saw the Freedom Bridge where North Korea and South Korea exchanged POWs following the war.
Next we went to a small village on the boarder called Tongilchon for lunch. Here there are 400 South Korean residents who have special permission to live here tax free, and military service free. All South Korean citizens do a mandatory 2 years of military service, but people living in this village are exempt. Through out the village there are many land mine signs which seemed poorly marked to me, but the residents here continue to farm and live a normal life. To come and go from this village there is a military security check point, as well as residents have an 11 o'clock curfew.
Next we went to the 3rd tunnel. This tunnel was dug by North Korea after the war and discovered in 1978. There are 4 known tunnels, but the US and South Korean military do random drilling checks looking for new ones. It is said that the tunnel could allow about 30 000 men in light weaponry an hour pass through and invade Seoul. Inside the tunnel you notice the walls are covered in coal. This is because North Korean wanted people to believe that tunnel was used for mining if it were to be discovered. This as an area that no pictures are allowed for security reasons.
After the tunnel we made our way to the Dora Observatory where you can look across into North Korea. To look into North Korea you would think it was a ghost town. There are a few buildings, but no sign of life. No cars, no people, and many shells of building without windows. Most of the buildings are colorless, there are no signs, or advertising which is very different from South Korea. The leader in North Korea has also cut 1000s of trees from this area so he could see invaders. The only thing with any color is a massive North Korean flag, which flies from the tallest flagpole in the world. There is a photo line at the observatory which you are not allowed to take pictures from, you can only look through binoculars to get an up close look. The guards on duty will delete any pictures you take past this line if your are caught. While we were at the observatory there was a little action. Not sure what was happening but we were quickly ushered away from the look out room by the US military due to a military debriefing. Following the debriefing we noticed a string of about 100 cars coming from North to South which was strange to see because there were no cars in sight prior to this. All military matters seem to be very hush hush in this country so I'm sure we will never hear why or what was happening.
The last stop on the tour was the train station which allows one train a week to travel to and from the two Korea's. It is mostly supplies and occasionally factory workers. Here we were able to get our passports stamped with a North Korean stamp. The train station is similar to all the others in Korea, minus the amount of people. It is the last stop before North Korea on the South side. It is also run by military officers unlike a normal train station.
All in all a great experience, and very interesting. I would suggest it to anyone visiting or living in Korea. I think I would like to do a different tour, to see other parts of the DMZ and a different tunnel.
