Enemy Territory

The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibilty of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action. The Joint Security Area is a neutral but divided area guarded by United Nations Command military personnel on the one side (South), and KPA personnel on the other (North). Guests of the United Nations Command are not permitted to cross the Military Demarcation Line into the portion of the Joint Security Area under control of the KPA. Although incidents are not anticipated, the United Nations Command, the United States of America, and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act.

In this day and age, you have to sign waivers for practically everything, but this is certainly one of the most interesting ones I've seen. On Saturday, Sharon and I went to the demilitarized zone (DMZ), the 4 km boundary separting the north and south. We went through the USO at the army base in Seoul, and since we had to be there so early in the morning, we went up Friday evening after school, got a good middle eastern dinner in a shopping area in downtown Seoul, and then stayed with different friends we have in the area.
The tour was really well done. After driving north to the border, we entered the only area that can be entered in the dmz. [Side note: the term dmz is probably the biggest oxymoron ever.] We went through all the different checkpoints and heard a short presentation on the history of the area, and then saw some of the buildings. In the middle of this area, there is a clearing with a cluster of several buildings with a concrete line going through the middle. The buildings belonging to the south are blue, and the northern ones are grey, just so you don't get confused. Southern soldiers stand behind their buildings in a taekwondo stance, half their body behind the building so they can jump back if they need to. Northern soldiers stand back further, peering at the southern ones. It is very surreal... tense because everyone is on guard, but calm because everyone is just standing around. It's very quiet; a physical stalemate, broken only by a few incidents through the years when people have attacked each other or tried to defect. There are definite rules for tourists... wear nice clothes and keep your expressions neutral so you can't be used in propaganda, don't point or wave your arms so you don't start a war, and stay in a double-file line so snipers can pick you off easier if they get bored. We did get to go into the building where they sometimes have meetings between the two sides.

Divided table/ Standing in the North

Later on the tour, we saw an observation building and the Bridge of No Return, which they used to exchange POWS. After the war, the pows got to choose which country they wanted to live in, but once they went over the bridge, they could never go back. We also got to go down in a tunnel the north dug in the 70s to attack the south. When people in the south started hearing weird noises, they sprayed water in the ground, and when a geyser shot up, they discovered its location. Now they turned it into a minefield.
The whole thing was kind of weird, and some of it was like a time warp since the buildings are from the 50s when the war ended. The day we went was rainy and really cold, so by the time we got home we were completely chilled. But the rain was okay since it is kind of a sad place anyway, and we could still see the important things through the fog. It was a good reminder of how divided this peninsula is, even though you can't tell it in the south, and of the conditions that exist in other places. The war wasn't that long ago; several of our students talk about their grandparents coming down from the north. But even still, it is amazing how little our students know of the war. It's led to some interesting discussions this year. Sharon and I were both very glad we could go on the tour. I'm not sure what it says about a country when one of the main tourist attractions is a war zone, but we did learn a lot.