I went to North Korea

Following Japan’s defeat in WWII, the Korean peninsula was effectively divided between a Western-backed government south of the 38th parallel and a Soviet-backed government to the north. In a few short years, the North would launch an attack on the South in an attempt to unify the peninsula. It nearly worked, until intervention by US and others pushed the communists back to nearly China, who then entered the fray, helping to return the line of control close to the 38th parallel. In 1953 an armistice was signed and a military demarcation line established that split the Koreas in two. IT was also decided there would be a four-kilometer wide demilitarized zone established to keep the armies apart. This heavily mined zone now draws millions of tourists per year – on both sides of the border. 

Visiting Seoul, it is hard to imagine this is a country still at war. The city could easily be described as a version of Tokyo stuck in the eighties (though without the property boom). It is a modern, prosperous city that happens to be located an hour from the DMZ and its somewhat hostile neighbor. The bus from Seoul’s luxurious Lotte Hotel travels along the Han River, which runs through the middle of Seoul. At this point, the river is a stretch of green, dotted with baseball and soccer fields. Just at the northern edge of the city, however, the riverside changes character, with razor wire and guard towers giving the first visual evidence that the country remains on edge. Civilians are not allowed access to the river here, because as recently as the eighties the North was sending squads of assassins down it toward Seoul.  

Warming overtures made by the South in recent years are in physical evidence inside the DMZ, with a new (yet unused) train station and warehouse park to serve Hyundai’s ambitious industrial park just across the border. There is an odd air about strolling around an obviously fairly new and entirely unused train station. From the observatory at the top of a nearby hill, one gets a good look into North Korea, at the industrial park, and Propaganda Village as it is called from the southern side of the line.  The South erected a large flag and tower in Freedom Village, so the North had to top them with an even larger tower and flag. (Pictured below from the JSA)

At least four tunnels under the border have been discovered, each angled down at three degrees toward the north to drain water away. The third tunnel to be discovered is part of the tourist route, complete with train to ferry visitors up and down (there is an optional and cheap tour walking access as well). Inside the low, narrow tunnel are descriptions of their discovery and presumed use.  

The last of the morning session was a visit to Freedom Bridge -- blocked off now -- but built exclusively for the exchange of POWs.  Later we were to get a view of the Bridge of No Return, which crosses a small river in the JSA. POWs returning for both sides were given the option, at the center of the bridge, to choose the side on which they would spend the rest of their lives, hence the name.

The afternoon session took us back into the DMZ and this time into the Joint Security Area (JSA), the UN-administered zone that includes Panmunjeom (Peace Village) and the buildings where members from North and South delegations can sit down to talk. Inside the JSA there is an almost palpable tension in the air, particularly at Panmunjeom. We were reminded that tensions were higher because of recent moves by the North to shut down access to the industrial park and demand re-negotiations of the contracts for workers, despite those not being due for a few years. The recent missile launch also added to tensions. The drive from the briefing room to the Peace Village is not long, and passes Freedom Village, a civilian residence of a few hundred people inside the JSA, where residence pay no tax, are exempt from conscription and must follow strict curfews, while they grow rice and ginseng. Along the road are more checkpoints, as well as the signs that warn of mines that are ubiquitous in the DMZ, and blocks of concrete above the road, rigged with explosives to buy a few-minutes’ time if tanks come rumbling down from the North.  

In the Peace Village you are told to behave like (presumably well-behaved) elementary students, and walk two by two, following all instructions. There is tension in the air, given off by the stern mannerisms of the ROK MPs that flank the procession and keep watch inside the buildings. The US MP who guided us was only slightly more conversational at one point. You are told not to point or even smile at the North Korean soldiers that you see, and definitely not to speak to them if they try to speak to you. On our visit we could only see one, standing guard in front of their main building, occasionally getting binoculars to view us in the pagoda. (Pictured at top) It is certain, though, that many others were watching from the windows of the buildings.