DMZ

Last weekend when Hadley came to visit me I was telling her about how much I missed Rice Krispie Bars. We actually went searching for some ingredients in Chuncheon but gave up after we couldn’t find Rice Krispies. When I arrived at her apartment on Friday night she had a present waiting for me… she made “Korean Rice Krispies.” It was awesome! I wanted to cry I was so happy. She found some puffed kind of rice krispies and some colorful marshmellows. They were soft and different but they turned out good! Thanks Hads, you’re the best!  

This past weekend I took a trip up to North Korea. I know it was a bit crazy but it was very cool and interesting. I went with Hadley and Elizabeth, my friend that I met through Hadley! We had to leave super early on Saturday morning, which ended up not being early enough. Hadley and I had troubles getting to the meeting place because the subway line conveniently switched and all the subway maps haven’t shown the switch yet… it was awesome. After sprinting through the subway and running down the street we made it! The bus was just about to leave as we got on too. Haha, woops! The first thing we did on the tour was go to the JSA (Joint Security Area) between North and South Korea. When we were driving there you could tell when we were getting close and entering the DMZ (demilitarized zone), everything looked the same just dead. It was silent and eerie. In the DMZ like everywhere in Korea, there were camera’s watching you. We got to the DMZ and had to transfer to a special military bus in order to drive up to the border. The place where we switched buses had a gift shop and museum as well as a theater where we were supposed to watch slide panels but weren’t able to because the power was out, very convenient! I guess during monsoon season the power goes in and out in the DMZ. 

This was the area where we had to switch buses... There was a band playing when we were ending our tour, it was all for someone important that was coming on the tour. 

The ride to the border was scary because our “glorified tour guide” aka the US Soldier, who was placed in Korea to give tours, was telling us that we were surrounded by mine fields and went through a gate that was wired with explosives that were ready to go off at any point in time. FABULOUS! We got to a building that was built by South Korea as a place for families to meet and be reunited with their relatives on the other side of the border. There has been a few times where South Korean’s have been able to meet with their relatives in North Korea. Once South Korea built this place, North Korea said they weren’t comfortable with it so the building remains vacant and useless. 

This was inside the family reunion building.

The outside of the family reunion building. This is a picture of the side of it. Kind of a bad picture but you get the idea of how big this building is... all built for nothing. So sad. 

Right outside of the family meeting building was the border with 5 or so blue rectangular meeting buildings that were located on both North and South Korea. We got to go in one of the buildings that have been used for meetings with both sides, which doesn’t happen often. When South Koreans are in the building, the doors to North Korea are locked and vice versa. It was pretty crazy being in that room. The US soldier was telling us about meetings and incidents that have happened in that building between the two countries. Tensions right now are super high between the South and North. There was a soldier standing on the North Korean building with his binoculars watching us. We had to stand in two lines while going in and out of the building too and when we were facing North Korea we had to stand on the top step. It was nuts! 

Inside the MAC (Military Armistice Commission) Meeting room... aka a building located on North and South Korea! To the right of the meeting table is North Korea, to the left of the table is South Korea.

A ROK(Republic of Korea) Soldier standing by the North Korea door.

Me standing next to the soldier in North Korea...

These ROK soldiers that guard the border are hard core... they have to be black belt certified and pass a ton of martial arts tests. They also have to pass a height requirement. 

The gray building behind the blue ones is North Korea! 

This is the building we went into; the MAC conference building.

After seeing the buildings we headed to a lookout point. There are three lookout points in near the area we were at I believe. From the lookout point we were facing North Korea and could see one of their lookout towers as well as their “town”. Both the North and the South are allowed to have one town of people live in the DMZ, why you would want to live there I’m not sure but some people do. There are around 230 or so people living in South Korea’s DMZ town. There are perks for living there. Most all of them farm and they make money tax-free. If they don’t sell all of their crops at the end of the year then the government will buy the leftovers from them so they are guaranteed a certain salary of around what would be 100,000 USD. You have to be a born into this town or marry in. Apparently, the North Korean town is all a front. The soldier was telling us that at night the tall buildings are lit up by one light at the top that fades down at the bottom of the building so you can tell it’s empty and has no floors. 

The US Soldier pointing to different parts of North Korea. We weren't allowed to point but apparently he could. 

This is one of North Korea's lookout towers.

This is the "town" in North Korea. Rumor has it that the actual town is behind this facade of buildings and it's said to be that the town is very poor. From what I've learned about North Korea I don't doubt that one bit. 

Next stop was the 3^rd tunnel. North Korea has 4 tunnels, that South Korea knows of, underground going from North to South Korea. It’s scary to think that there could be other tunnels where North Korea crosses the border into South Korea. The 3^rd tunnel is the most threatening tunnel because it heads right towards Seoul with the least distance. We weren’t allowed to take our camera’s down in the tunnel but it was really cool down there. We had to walk pretty far down to get to the point where you could see a big cement door locked to North Korea. We wore hard hats down there and it was small so we had to bend while walking so we didn’t hit our heads. Walking down the tunnel was easy but it was quite a workout getting back out of it. I was in need of a beer after that workout. Just so happens that the Gift shop was at the top and they sold North Korean Beer!  I got one to have with lunch. It was pretty good considering I’ve been drinking South Korean beer… if you don’t know already, South Korean beer should stay in South Korea – it’s bad.

This is the museum next to the 3rd tunnel entrance.

Hadley and I with one of the statues outside of the museum! 

Before lunch we stopped at another lookout area where we could get a view of North Korea. It was super foggy on Saturday so we couldn’t see anything really but that was ok because there wasn’t much to see, just landscape. 

The building by the lookout area. 

The overlook area. As you can see... it was super gloomy Saturday. 

It was super regulated when we could take photo's... 

Hads trying out the North Korean beer during lunch! 

North Korean beer

Last stop of the tour we went to Dorasan Station that is located in South Korea in the DMZ. It’s a subway station that connects North and South Korea together. It wasn’t anything to brag about, just looked like a clean subway station. It runs twice a day and currently only runs to a town a little closer to North Korea still within the DMZ on the South Korean side of the border. At one point in time I guess it did cross the border for a select few people to work in North Korea but now since tensions are so high they stopped doing any work with North Korea. There was a separate room in the station for security and it looked intense, more intense than an airport! The tour was really fun and I’m super glad I went on it and arrived back to Seoul alive! Haha

Showing the distance from South Korea and North Korea's big cities...