The first stop was this newly built train station that runs from South Korea to Pyongyang. Freight trains carrying cargo from the joint North-South factories in Kaesong used to run on these tracks, but have stopped since Lee Myung-bak became President of South Korea.
The next stop was a lookout across the DMZ from which you can see North Korea. We were not allowed to take photos while standing directly at the wall. There was a line painted on the ground that marked the limit. But you know me, I had to sneak in a couple shots for y'all while the soldiers weren't looking. There was one soldier whose duty was to patrol the wall back and forth making sure nobody was taking pictures, so I just timed it to his pace and was able to take this video. It's not visible here, but in the distance was a giant North Korean flag proudly flying on the world's tallest flagpole, in defiance of a shorter South Korean flag on our side of the border. The serenity of the landscape was deceptive—the four kilometer wide area that runs along the North-South border is said to be the densest extant minefield on Earth.
We went down one of several tunnels that have been dug by North Korea under the DMZ. There are four such known tunnels, and this was the third to be discovered by South Korea, in 1978.
The tunnel was fairly low, as it was made for the smaller North Korean troops, much like the tunnels dug by the Viet Cong. It was a good thing they made us wear helmets—I hit my head several times against the ceiling.
The North Koreans attempted to disguise the tunnel as a coal mine by smearing the walls with coal. However, there is no coal in the area. The holes where dynamite was placed were highlighted by yellow paint; apparently, they point towards South Korea, further evidence of the North's complicity.
This was as far as we were allowed. The tunnel continues much further, all the way to North Korea.
At the time, South Korea did not have advanced technology to detect the tunnels, so after they got word of a possible location of a tunnel, they would drill pipes into the ground and pour water down them. If the water fell through, they knew that there was a tunnel below. This was one of the holes by which this tunnel was discovered.
This was our tour guide. Her Konglish accent made me laugh at first, because she was so unabashed by her pronounciation, but she actually spoke excellent English for someone who had never even been to an English speaking country.
This area was a bit strange. It is the furthest place South Koreans can go near the DMZ without special permission. There were some monuments, the remains of a bullet-riddled train from the war that had been left in its place, the Freedom Bridge that connects to North Korea, and a small amusement park.
Once we got to the Joint Security Area, rules regarding taking photos became even more strict. We were allowed to take a few inside the central building that straddles the border. If you walk to the far side of the conference table in the middle of the room, you are technically in North Korea. The guards stand completely still, doing their best to look intimidating. More than once I found myself wondering if they were wax figures. Outside the window, a line of concrete slabs marked the boundary between North and South.
We were allowed to take photos from a tower that overlooked the whole village. There was only one North Korean soldier on duty, standing at the door of the main North Korean building, Panmungak. He kept looking at us with binoculars.
This was our guard. JSA soldiers are carefully selected based on the following criteria: good looks, height, athletic fitness, and they must be a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The whole scenario is a game of looking better. After South Korea built a new Freedom House, which is the main building on their side, the North Koreans added a floor to Panmungak so that it would be taller. So, South Korea takes special care to make sure that their soldiers are taller, the one category that North Korea has trouble topping.
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