DMZ

“Is it okay to take pictures?” I ask as I raise my camera and look to the building across from us. The officer is wearing an American military uniform with the name “Pounds” stitched into his breast.

“Take as many photos as you like, sir, but seriously, do not make any gestures towards them in any way.”

During our second day in Korea, Don and I took a tour to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates South Korea from North Korea. Although there has been no open conflict since the armistace established at the end of the Korean War, the countries are technically still at war with each other. As recent as 1984, there have been skirmishes between soldiers from either sides resulting in several deaths, and as recent as 1990, there have been discovered tunnels being bored from the Northern border into the South towards Seoul. There was also the infamous axe murders before this where South Korean soldiers were killed over the pruning of a tree. A quick look at the Wikipedia page also lists several incidents of gunfire between the two countries as recently as 2006.

Of more recent note, a South Korean naval patrol ship sunk off of the coast of the Korean Peninsula where only 58 of the 104 sailors survived. South Korea has not ruled out the possibility of North Korean sabotage in the incident. To link any potential escalation of animosity between the two countries however, one of the German members of our tour mentioned to me that earlier in the week, the New York Times published an article containing a North Korean statement that made reference to this tour that we were participating in. I looked up the article, which reads as follows:

In a statement reported by news agencies, the North demanded an end to the tours in the so-called demilitarized zone, calling them part of a pattern of “psychological warfare” and warning of “unpredictable incidents including the loss of human lives in this area for which the U.S. side will be wholly to blame.” (New York Times: March 28, 2010)

I’m sure anyone reading this can imagine the sense of alarm we felt when at one point on the tour, we heard gunshots in the distance from two different directions. These were not however, explained, or even acknowledged by any of our guides. For the most part, the American military personnel escorting us were fairly calm and personable. The Rupublic of Korea (R.O.K.), or South Korean soldiers however were a bit more intense. They all stand at guard in Tai Kwan Do stances in order to “look intimidating to the enemy,” as our escort explained. Many of them also partially conceal themselves behind buildings “in case they are fired upon.” They were also the ones who made a fuss when Don and I lagged behind the tour to take photos of ourselves in a mirror within the Freedom Building. The only time we got the sense that something was wrong was when, at one of the viewpoints, we were asked to get back on the bus because there seemed to be an abnormally large collection of North Korean soldiers collecting at a post overlooking our position.
We only saw one North Korean face to face during the tour – which is probably one more than many see in a visit to Korea. He stood about 100m away on the North Korean side of Panmunjeom, or Joint Security Area (JSA) where the two countries hold their occasional meetings. At this site, there are blue buildings that sit directly on the border; when we were shown the inside of the building, we were able to walk to the side which lies on North Korean soil. It is this area where Koreans from both sides are stationed to keep an eye on each other. It is said that here is where South Korean soldiers are “in front of them all.”

This was also the part where we were told not to gesture at the North Koreans in any way.
At this point in the tour, I looked at our tour guide, who was the only South Korean civilian in our group; her face was white and her movements hesitant. She’s been doing tours to the DMZ for 6 years now, but this is only the third time in which she has brought a tour to Panmunjeom. I asked if she was okay and she said that she was “very nervous.” When I asked her if I should also be nervous, with a quick nod of her head, she said “yes.”

Although the relations between the two countries remain tense, there are many absurdities that were made very apparent to us during the tour. For one, just behind the South Korean border, there stands a building called the “Freedom Building,” which was built where any North Koreans defecting to the South, could reunite safely with family and friends. To this day, because no North Koreans are allowed to cross the border, this building has yet to be used for this purpose. It is also worth noting that when the building was first built, the height of the building intimidated the North and caused them to build an addition onto their opposing structure. Now, when any buildings are built in the JSA, they are made sure to not be taller than this building for fear of retaliation.

There is also a train station that has been built just south of the DMZ on a railway where trains once moved freely within a unified country. The station was built in anticipation of a time when Koreans would once again be able to travel between the two regions. It is a fully functional station that is fully lit with trains down at the platform and has personnel selling train fares; even the seats in the waiting area are showing signs of wear from the many visitors passing through. However, not a single train has ever left the platform bearing any passengers.

The Demilitarized Zone is also a place for very large flags. In a village on the south side, a very large South Korean flag was donated and erected. Almost immediately, the North Koreans raised their own flag, upon the largest flagpole in the world – standing 160m. The flag also weighs 270 kg. It apparently takes 50 men to raise and lower the flag, which they do regularly because if the flag becomes too wet, it will tear under its own weight. The flag itself resides within one of North Korea’s Propaganda Villages. These are villages constructed by North Korea to give the illusion of prosperity in the North and to provide a place for South Koreans to defect to. Until a few years ago, they would broadcast propaganda messages to the South telling them to join the North. It is apparently obvious that nobody lives in these villages because nobody is ever seen – aside from the team that raises and lowers the flag, and because there is no glass in the windows of the buildings; the claimed reasoning is that outfitting them with glass would prove too costly.

Also, just outside of the DMZ on the south side of the border, there is a sort of rest stop for all of the tours. It was where we stopped for lunch and where we regrouped for the second part of the tour down the North Korean incursion tunnels. At this stop is also an old locomotive riddled with bullet holes from the war; several armoured vehicles on display; and the Freedom Bridge where prisoners of war were allowed to return to their countries after the Korean War. This was also the place where we were able to hear gunfire from the north. What is absurd is that this spot is turning into somewhat of an amusement area – complete with theme park. There is also an amphitheatre set up, which is beside a small park decorated with hundreds of small plastic windmills. The theme park is apparently for the tours full of school children to play in while they wait for their buses to take them back home.

There are many aspects of this place that seemed quite amusing to us during the tour, but I think we all found it a bit difficult to laugh out loud.

If I learned anything from our stay in Korea, it’s that the country and its people are very proud of their history and their culture. Ever since people have populated the Korean peninsula, others have been trying to take it away from them, whether it’s been the Chinese, the Mongolians, or the Japanese (and maybe even the Russians?). There is something to be said for a group of people that have managed to stave off such powerful imperial forces. In order to explain to us how Koreans see themselves, our guide told us that in Korea they have two different sauces that they use for their cooking: one is a dark liquid that is very rich and pleasant; the other is red and contains a very strong spice. She told us that these two condiments are what best describe Korean people; ordinarily Koreans are very friendly and loving – like the rich dark sauce, but when they are threatened, they become very passionately angry – which is embodied within the red. Woe to those who anger such peoples. The real shame is that after many centuries of retaining their own culture and heritage, it is only within the last 60 years or so that the country has become divided and alienated against each other. It is not possible to enter North Korea from any country other than China. Now families speak nothing of contempt for their distant relatives to the north. They speak their own brand of propaganda, mockingly condemning the lifestyles of the North; they laud their poverty, poor health, lack of freedoms, and profound unhappiness. They refer to them as brainwashed, and that the North sees the South as “monsters.” A generation has passed since the separation and our guide lamented the fact that she had a grandmother who suffers in the north – someone whom she’s never met. Hopefully, another generation won’t be allowed to pass by under these terms, where they will only grow closer to losing all recollection of one another.


***Also worth mentioning: within the last photo of the bridge, there is a small white mass behind the limbs of a tree – this is an unexplained dead dog on the North Korean side of the bridge.***