Cybersam's Blog - A trip to the Korean DMZ

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

A trip to the Korean DMZ

One of the highlights of my trip to Korea is a visit to the Korean DMZ. This is a 4-km wide buffer zone that divides Korea into the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). Created at the end of the Korean War, this expanse serves as one of the front-lines of the Cold War. Technically, North and South Korea are still at war since there has not been a peace treaty signed, just a cease-fire. The Korean DMZ remains to be the tensest and most-armed front in the world. Before the trip, my better imagination had always thought that the Korean DMZ as a heavily-fortified, barren land, much like the Western Front in World War I. The zone perimeter on both sides are indeed heavily-fortified and the 4-km wide DMZ itself is armed with land mines. But the landscape is certainly not barren. On the contrary, the DMZ has become somewhat a natural sanctuary to migratory birds from Siberia due to non-human activities in the area for the last 50 years. The DMZ looks like the picture shown below.

The Korean DMZ, an unspoilt wildlife refuge

Since the Korean War technically is still ongoing, I am somewhat surprised that tourists are allowed to visit the Joint Security Area (JSA), the only area which the South and North Korean forces stand face-to-face. This area was originally designated as a neutral zone within the Korean DMZ where a restricted number of soldiers from both sides share control of the area and leaders from both sides engaged in diplomatic talks. But numerous provocations and conflicts ensued after its establishment and finally after the egregious Axe Murder incident, the area is now divided into South and North Korean administered sections. The cement slabs in the photo below shows the diving line in the JSA. The gravel ground is in South Korea and the clay ground in North Korea. There are two blue buildings (also known as Military Armistice Commission or MAC Conference Room) in the JSA, which straddles the border, serves as actual meeting areas for diplomatic talks from both sides. They are the only places in the JSA where one can cross over the line and for a moment claim "Hey look, I am in North Korea."

The dividing line in JSA

Before being allowed to set foot into the DMZ, we were briefed by military personnel on rules like don't provoke the Korean People's Army (KPA), don't defect, don't at any circumstances point your finger, no picture taking in certain places, and such. Also, all tourists entering the DMZ must sign a release of liability form, which states in part: "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action." (taken from Wikipedia).

After the briefing, we were escorted by military personnel to the JSA. The first stop is the area where the main administrative buildings, including the MAC conference rooms, are located. A sense of quietness and tension fills the air there with, ironically, the presence of tourists livening the place up somewhat. Sometimes I wonder if tourist presence makes the South Korean sentries more relived or nervous? After snapping some pictures, we walked in twos back to the tour bus (driven by a military personnel) where we proceeded to our next destination: a hilltop atop of the JSA. From this hilltop, we can see the Bridge of No Return, the so-called the Loneliest Outpost in the World (due to a string of kidnappings of ROK sentries by the KPA in the past), and across the border, North Korea. Looking across the border, there is the conspicuous 160-meter tall flagpole with a 600 pound North Korean flag -- the tallest flagpole in the world -- barely flapping in the Siberian wind. A while back, both the South and North Koreans were competing on building the tallest flagpole in their bordering villages. Taller and taller flagpoles were built until the North Korean finally built this behemoth flagpole. After taking some pictures at this site, we boarded the bus and rode back to Seoul, which amazingly is located some 30 miles from the DMZ.