Ashley and Taylor in Korea: DMZ Part 1

Last Saturday we went on a tour of the DMZ- the De-Militarized Zone between North and South Korea. We were supposed to sign a form that begins, "The visit to the joint security area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death." Unfortunately, there were no English forms available to sign, so our military escort just read the entire thing and we all verbally consented.

In truth, the area really wasn't that bad, but I think most of us could say that we felt a little tense. It's just the thought of what could happen. Thank God nothing did.

The DMZ is a 2.5 mile wide, 155 mile long area that separates North and South Korea. You may know of it as the 38th parallel. It's said to be one of the most heavily armed borders in the world. And for good reason....the North keeps crossing over into the South attempting to infiltrate. You can see all of their attempts here. The North has dug several tunnels in an attempt to reach the South. Several have been discovered, but they predict that many more are out there.

The "Third Tunnel of Agression" was discovered in 1978.
Now tourists are able to explore the 2mx2m (6.6ft/6.6ft) tunnel

On both sides of the DMZ there are active landmines, hence the barbed wire fences with "Danger: Mines" signs posted everywhere.

Residents of Taesongdong farming in the Mine area

Interestingly, there is only 1 inhabited village in the DMZ called Daeseongdong Village.<------ Visit that link for an interesting CNN article. Taesongdong Village is also known as Freedom Village. The residents have strict rules they must follow, like how many nights a year they have to stay there to maintain residency, an imposed curfew, etc. It is guarded 24 hours a day by S.K. soldiers. There are definitely perks to living here. But do they outweigh the negatives? The people are exempt from many governmental laws like paying taxes and military service for men. They also make a lot of money as farmers in this area.

On the North side of the DMZ, they have their own "Freedom Village." North Koreans have been filled with propaganda for so long. They're told that the people in the South are very poor and have much worse lives than those in the North amongst many other lies. I don't know how they can believe that when their people are starving. The self-appointed "freedom village" for the North is called Kigeong-dong. The South likes to call it "Propaganda Village." Rightfully so.

Proganda Village with the largest flagpole in the world

Nobody actually lives in propaganda village. The only "residents" are North Korean soldiers. It's been reported that the buildings are just concrete shells . On the inside, there are no floors, window glass, interior rooms, or any other things inside a building. It's all about propaganda. The village was built in the 1950's to encourage South Koreans to defect to the North, claiming that they will have a better life. Up until 2004 loudspeakers faced toward the South blasted propaganda. When they weren't extolling themselves, they were talking against the South or even against the U.S. (the west), or playing patriotic marching music for up to 20 hours a day!

Did you notice the gigantic flagpole? ~~It's actually the tallest in the world.~~ I just checked my facts and Tajikistan (has anybody even heard of that place?) just recently beat out North Korea with a flagpole of 165 meters, versus 160 meters. Oh, darn. The story behind North Korea's tallest flagpole is a pretty good one. They already had a much much smaller one in place. The South came along in 1980 and built one quite a bit higher in the Taesong-dong Village at 98 meters (323 feet). The North responded by building the current one at 160 meters (525 feet). The flag itself weighs 600 pounds! Some have called this the "flagpole war."

"The Bridge of No Return"

The Bridge of No Return was used to exchange Prisoners of War after the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953. The prisoners were brought to the bridge and given the choice to remain in the country of their captivity or cross over to the other country. But if they chose to cross the bridge, they would never be allowed to return. Hence the name "Bridge of No Return."

The bridge was actively used by the North Koreans until the Axe Murder Incident in 1976 (also known as the hatchet incident). A tall tree was blocking a view of one of the South's checkpoints, so 2 U.S. soldiers attempted to trim the tree. They were attacked and brutally killed by North Korean soldiers wielding clubs and axes. The incident was tragic, but I do like the response of the South and U.S. forces. They immediately issued a DEFCON 3 alert and began "Operation Paul Bunyan." A convoy of 23 American and South Korean vehicles drove unannounced into the Joint Security Area which had 1 manned N.K. checkpoint at the time. In the vehicles were two 8-man teams of military engineers prepared to cut down the tree. For even further protection, these teams were accompanied by an armed platoon, 27 helicopters, and a number of B-52, F-4, and F-5 bombers flying along the DMZ. The North Koreans held their fire, and within an hour the operation was complete. That was probably a wise decision on their part.