DMZ

The sign on the front of the bus said, “Foreign Tourists on board.” It was the first solid indication that we were heading into an area that could turn hostile quickly. The Demilitarized Zone was the only area that I wanted to visit on our side trip through Korea. My master’s thesis focused on the Cold War as it played out in the Korean War and I was eager to visit the border of North Korea.

Our group was small. We had only ten English speakers on the bus, so they tagged us on with a larger Japanese group who were visiting the DMZ that day. As our bus left Seoul for the 60-kilometer drive to Panmunjom, the tour guide broke into a 20-minute speech in Japanese about the days visit. I was surprised that I could pick out the gist of the speech. She mentioned the small group of English speakers in the back of the bus and the addition of an English-speaking tour guide. She then pointed out points along the route with a brief history of the Korean conflict. Our English guide got the final minutes before the DMZ to catch our group up on the information we needed to know.

When we booked the tour, we were given a list of clothing requirements. We couldn’t wear shorts or flip-flops. We were instructed to wear long pants and tennis shoes. Our guide on the bus told us the reason for the dress code: it was for security. Long pants for the barbed wire and shoes we could actually run in. Just two weeks before our visit a South Korean tourist was killed, under suspicious circumstances, at the only other tourist destination in the DMZ. She was shot twice in the back on July 11. Our guide said we needed to be ready, and if she yelled "run", we were to run.

It was pouring that day, so Chrissy had brought our umbrella instead of wearing a raincoat as it was so hot even with the rain. Unfortunately, they didn’t tell us not to bring umbrellas and so we didn't know we would not be allowed to use them as they as can be mistaken as weapons. So at the first rest stop of the bus ride we picked up a yellow rain coat for Chrissy to wear. They did tell us to bring our passports for the multiple security checkpoints. Our guide also gave us other instructions; no pointing, in fact no hand gestures at all, and to only take pictures when she said it was ok.

As we neared the DMZ, we began to follow the river that had flowed through Seoul north and west to the Yellow Sea. The road followed the river. The river was lined with barbed wire on both banks. In the fences along the river small white stones hung precariously every foot or so. The theory is, if the fence is disturbed in any way, the stones will fall. Missing stones alert the guard to activities along the fence. Guard towers, stood ever 100 meters. North Koreans have consistently tried to infiltrate the South since the armistice was signed in 1953.

We entered the Demilitarized Zone by crossing a bridge over the river. On each side of the bridge stood guard towers. The four-lane bridge had barricades placed every 20 meters, which forced our bus to weave from one guard tower to the next. There wasn’t any other traffic on the road.

Our first stop in the DMZ was at the United Nations base. They presented a short video on the Korean War and activities around the Joint Security Area. They told us the story of the 'Axe Murder' that happened along the border. It was a situation where ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers were attempting to cut down a tree in front of their guard shack to increase visibility. The North Korean soldiers didn’t want the tree chopped down and killed one of the ROK soldiers with the axe. They also told us of three or four events in which people posing as tourists in a tour group like ours attempted to cross the border or motioned to the North Koreans. We were warned not to do this. Only U.N. Vehicles are allowed into the Joint Security Area, so after the presentation we transferred to a UN bus for our trip into the JSA. From the U.N. base to the JSA we traveled couple of miles through rice paddies and Ginseng fields. The South Koreans have only one village in the DMZ, as do the North Koreans. Huge national flags flew over the villages. Presently only 200 or so people live in the South Korean village. No one lives in the North Korean model village. They only exist in the DMZ for people in the South or North, respectively, to observe and wonder and hopefully be intimidated. The North Korean village is called the "Propaganda" Village, according to the South Koreans. The South Koreans call their similar village something like "Peace" village. At one time they both would blare music and speeches at each other over loud speakers pointed towards the border.

We had hoped to enter the building where the North Koreans and Chinese negotiated the armistace with representatives from the United Nations and United States.
No South Koreans were involved in these negotiations. As we neared the building it became evident that we wouldn’t be allowed into the little blue hut sitting at the border. A small blue United Nations flag in front of the door indicated that the building was being used for official purposes by the North that day.

South Korean guards stand in "ROK Ready" pose facing the North Korean soldiers. ROK soldiers receive extensive training in Tae Kwon Do, the martial art of Korea. Their ROK ready pose is supposed to intimidate the Northern soldiers. Furthermore, the South Korean soldiers stand at the corners of the buildings with only half of their body visible to their opponents. Their eyes are also covered with sunglasses. All of this is supposed to intimidate their opponents.

The North Koreans stand right next to the border, sideways instead of facing it, with their shoulders towards the South Koreans. The North Korean guards look at each other. The South Koreans try to intimidate and the North Koreans ignore the intimidation. It really is a dance. The guards on both sides of the border are selected for their height, intelligence and aptitude. Only the best soldiers are stationed at the DMZ.

We did see sights that many people never see, however. On the North Korean side tourists had gathered to observe the south. I wasn’t sure which of us were the animals in the zoo; us or them.

At lunch we changed from the morning tour group to join a different tour group for the afternoon. We switched tour groups at a theme park built along the border to celebrate the eventual reunification of the two Koreas. The park was empty except for a couple of restaurants and buses of tourists. No rides operated, or ever had I think, and no one was in the park.

In the afternoon we visited tunnel #3, one of the many tunnels that the North Koreans had dug under the border to invade the south in a future war. I remembered fifteen years ago I had worked with a guy who had served in Korea in the early 1990s. At that time a tunnel was discovered large enough to drive tanks through. He said that he was sent on a mission into North Korea to seek and destroy the other end of the tunnel. He said one of the soldiers on that mission was killed. I couldn’t help but think about the afternoon I had spent with that guy and the locations we were currently visiting. The tunnel that we toured was narrow and short. We walked down a long, steep ramp underground to get to the mouth of tunnel. I had to walk hunched over. The tunnel was low enough that even Chrissy hit her head a couple of times.

The visit to the DMZ, JSA and the tunnels was surreal. We passed through the worlds most mined and protected border and we ventured back in time to an era that has all but died everywhere else in the world.In Korea the Cold War hasn’t died. The Propaganda War is still hot. At times people fight and die or simply get shot for strange behavior. Everything on the border seemed strange.