The Demilitarized Zone

Today, I went to the DMZ - The buffer zone between South Korea and North Korea. You may have heard of it!

The DMZ is heavily guarded by the North and South. It's supposed to seperate them by 4km (though both countries have built inside of it), and it's also the host of some 700,000 landmines, remaining from the Korean war.

Since there's an elevated level of tension, as of late, the atmosphere is pretty serious all around. Still, the area continues to be a draw for tourists, and has a fair bit to offer.

The first highlight was the 'third tunnel' - one of the tunnels that was dug up by the North Koreans in an attempt to invade the South undetected (by digging 73 metres underground). In total, four such tunnels have been discovered, though it's suspected that the North has built as many as 20. It was interesting for a few minutes, but truth be told, it's just a tunnel that's now blocked-off - not particularly worth the backache.

The next thing we saw was the most impressive, for me. On the outskirts of the DMZ, South Korea has already built several buildings in anticipation of (what's seen as the eventual) unification of North and South. There are empty customs buildings, parking lots, and Dorasan Station.

Dorasan Station is a new, never-used rail station, that will one day work as a hub between North and South Korea. The signs are already up, in anticipation (You can see the 'To Pyeongyang' sign in the picture above.) It's a little eery, but very symbolic. In the picture to the left, you can see (if you look closely enough): 'Not the last station from the South. But the first station toward the North'.

For the last leg of the trip, we headed for the JSA - the Joint Security Area, watched over by both Northern and Southern soldiers. It's the most well-known part of the DMZ, where in the center, half of a building belong to each country.

Quite unfortunately, the North must've had word that I was coming, and feared that my mere presence might've fixed all of their problems. While we were being given our briefing, a few hundred meters away from the JSA, we were told that three bodies had washed-up in the near river, and that a decision had been made - minutes ago - to cancel all remaining tours for the day.

Clearly, I make Kim Jong-il nervous.

It was a dissapointing end to the day, but still a great experience.

Have a good one.