I know some people would never dare go near the DMZ, and others would never dream of moving to South Korea just out of fear, but not this family. We are just a little bit crazy and more than a lot curious about the DMZ and all that goes with it. Now, despite Eric's wishes to go to the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom, where you can actually see the North Korean soldiers and the South Korean soldiers standing face-to-face on the line, we had to do the non-JSA tour because our kids are too young. They would all have had to be over 10 years old to go to the JSA.
But the non-JSA tour has its own thrills. To begin, let's talk about geography. From where we left in Seoul it was an hour bus ride (only 64km) to our first stop: Imjingak Unification Park. This bus ride went northwest along the Han river and then turns north where the Imjin river flows into the Han river. Where the two rivers meet, you can see North Korea right across the river. In the graphic below, the DMZ is the dark gray line. It splits the Imjin river right above the confluence, and then goes west following the Han river. The highlighted path was our bus route.
Well before we reached the confluence, there was barbed wire and guard posts along the rivers edge. Our guide told us that it was because the North Koreans used to try to sneak into South Korea using the river, so the military set up the defenses.
Guard post at rivers edge
We were able to see a small collection of buildings on the North Korean side; a small village, our guide said.
view of North Korean village across the Imjin river
Our first stop was Imjingak Unification Park. This park holds the Freedom Bridge, where POWs were released and crossed back into South Korea after the signing of the Armistice agreement in 1953.
Bridge of Freedom
Since many families were separated during the war, this place is where some come to remember and pray for unification. The picture below is a Mangbaedan Memorial altar where many come to pray on New Year's Day and Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) in the hopes their families will one day be reunited. We were there the day after Chuseok.
Many people buy these peace ribbons to tie on the chain link fence to show their hope for a united future.
In 1983, there was a TV show, "Search for the Dispersed Families", whose aim was to reunite families that were separated within the South Korean side. It ran live for 138 days straight and reunited 10,189 families.
This section of the Imjin river used to have 2 railroad bridges crossing it, but they were destroyed during the war. This train remnant shows where shrapnel tore through it when the bridges were bombed.
Imjin River
newly reconstructed railroad bridge, made for the day the land is reunited
The next stop on the bus tour was the 3rd infiltration tunnel. This stop was fascinating. We learned that a North Korean geologist had helped plan the construction of 20 tunnels so that North Korea could invade South Korea from many fronts simultaneously. The geologist then defected, before they were all finished, to come to South Korea to warn them. Only 4 tunnels have been discovered, the last of which was found in 1990. The 3rd tunnel was not complete when the South Korean military found it. They were able to drill down from above using the information from the geologist, and after many attempts, drilled into the ceiling of it, 240ft (73m) below ground. The tunnel had been created using dynamite and is about a mile long (1635m). It crosses the military demarcation line and onto the South Korean side of the DMZ by just over 1400 feet (435m).
To access the 3rd infiltration tunnel, we drove right up to the edge of the DMZ where the military had dug a steep ramp down to intercept the tunnel that was dug. No pictures were allowed to be taken once we were inside the tunnel, but we got some pics of the area above ground. There was a little museum with some war artifacts, map displays, and they showed a video.
The green light shows the entrance to the 3rd infiltration tunnel. The lights are the northern and southern edges of the DMZ.
This close up shows the Freedom Bridge in the lower left crossing the river. You can see the 3rd tunnel (stop 2), the Dora Observatory (stop 3) and Dorasan Station (stop 4, with green light)
Close up of the JSA area in Panmunjom. We did not go there.
This is a very helpful diagram to show what it looks like underground. We walked down the ramp and then up to the 3rd blockade wall.
This explains how they found the precise location of the tunnel.
This is a replica of what it looks like when you reach the 3rd blockade wall. Through the small cutout in the door, you can see through to the 2nd blockade wall.
To enter the tunnel, we had to put on hard hats. The 358m long ramp down is very steep and physically challenging not only to go down but also to come up again. There is one hand rail along the side to help. Once down in the actual infiltration tunnel, it got much narrower. It was only 2m wide and 2m high. This is not high enough to stand upright, especially with the hard hats making us taller. The walls were wet, like a cave, and you could see the scars from the dynamite blasts. In some places there were pipe scaffolds that we had to bend over even lower to get through. We walked 265m through the infiltration tunnel up to the 3rd blockade wall, only 170m from the military demarcation line.
The third stop on the bus tour was the Dora Observatory. It is situated on top of Mount Dora, giving us a great vantage point to see across into North Korea. I marked the 4 stops of our tour on the map below.
1=Imjingak Unification Park, 2=3rd tunnel, 3=Dora Observatory, 4=Dorasan station
From here we can see the two villages that exist inside the DMZ borders. One on the North Korean side and one on the South Korean side. Our tour guide was keen to point out that the North Korean Propaganda Village (Kijong-dong) is not real. It waves the North Korean flag, but our tour guide said that no one lives there. The North Koreans built it early after the truce, to try to convince the South Koreans that they were doing well. But since technology has improved, they can now see clearly that the buildings are empty and the lights are on timers. The South Korean village Daeseong-dong has 200 permanent residents who farm the area. Both villages have extra tall flag poles that can be seen from the Observatory. We were told that loud speakers from the Propaganda village used to blare propaganda messages towards the South up to 20 hours a day. And the South returned the propaganda from their side, blaring messages towards the North. Each side has been trying to convince the other side that they are more propserous and life is better on their respective sides. Since last April, they have stopped, due to the increase in peace talks.
The much larger city and built up area you can see in the valley between the mountains is the Kaesong Industrial Region. It used to be run by the South Koreans, employing North Korean workers to work for South Korean companies. It was mutually beneficial, but was dependent on good relations between the North and the South. It has a history of being open (2004- April 2013), then closed (April-Aug 2013), then open (Aug 2013-Feb 2016), then closed. It hasn't been in use since 2016.
Dora Observatory
Checkpoint between North and South Korea, where Olympians passed through. Only road connecting the two.
Our last stop was Dorasan Station. This is the last stop on the South Korean railroad before the DMZ. Our tour guide was so hopeful that one day North and South Korea will be reunited, because then the rail line can be reactivated and a person could travel from Seoul to Paris by train in 3 weeks. Until then though, South Korea is virtually an island, cut off from the mainland of Asia because of the DMZ.
Unification Platform
On the Unification Platform was a section of the Berlin Wall. I've found myself comparing the DMZ to the Berlin Wall quite a lot. I remember when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. I hope that one day the DMZ will come down too. It seems to me, from all that we learned on this tour, that Korea is hopeful too.
Section of the Berlin Wall
Our time at the DMZ came to an end. We had to cross back over the Unification bridge, around the blockades, through the military checkpoint lined with soldiers, and back along the river lined with barbed wire.
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