D to the M to the Z

Dear S. Korean guards at the DMZ,
You are a group of pretty "hard" dudes. You make me feel safe at night.

I've been meaning to write this for about a week now. BUT I've just been sooo busy with work and walking to work that I just didn't have time....NOT, I've totally had enough time, BUT I spent my week reading the second book of the Hunger Games series and really the only reason I'm writing this and not reading the third book is because the book is in the mail. Seriously, they are pretty addicting, that is until you get to the point in the second book that makes you want to take a quick jog over to the Yellow Sea and chuck it as far as possible! Nonetheless, I resisted and with the encouragement of a friend, kept reading and am in great anticipation to read the third...phew...rabbit trail, sorry.

Sooooo..here goes my blog about one of the most interesting places I think I will ever go:
ironically named the Demilitarized Zone even though it's the most militarized place in all of Korea. If you're slightly uneducated about these things, it's the border between North and South Korea.
Friday Night, four of my friends picked me up from my work and we took a little road trip to Osan Air Base up near Seoul. We stayed at the Osan Air Base hotel. When Elizabeth and I got to our room we were so very excited to have an American style bed. We jumped right in, and just laid there for a bit reflecting on what a bed SHOULD feel like.

Saturday morning we boarded our guided tour bus with the Osan Airbase. It was nice to be surrounded by Americans for a day...I forget how much I love eavesdropping. Our tour guide was Korean but spoke very fluent English. He was a character, Mr. Pak..this picture gives a good representation of him:
Anyways, on our bus ride up to the DMZ, we watched a History Channel documentary about the North and South Korea and the DMZ. It was both very educational and infuriating.

When I was younger, our family had a blue minivan. I remember one night I was sitting in the back seat when I noticed our windows in the back had been recently tinted. I had just finished my old school coca cola when I found myself writing my name with the coca cola cap in the freshly tinted backseat window. It was dark, and I couldn't tell if I actually etched my name or not. By the tone in my mother's question the next morning, I knew I had succeeded. She asked, "Natalee, did you write your name in the window in the back seat of the van?" I said, "Noooooo, Erika did it." I am North Korea in this situation.

See, although Erika was definitely not in the back seat, and quite possible not even IN the van the night I did the deed, I still completely denied I had anything to do it. However, come to think of it, for the most part, when soldiers were killed in an ambush attack in the DMZ, the North Koreans would completely deny that the event even happened. So I guess even as a ridiculous, clueless little girl I was even more mature than North Korea has been.

Our first stop was at Imjingak. This is a place that supposedly represents unification of the Koreas. Here, there was a bridge called "Freedom Bridge" where 12,773 Korean prisoners of war were returned from North Korea in 1953. Also the "Peace Bell" is here too..although, I'm pretty sure that bell won't be ringing for quite some time. Along the fences here are many many ribbons that have Korean writing on them. The tour guide said the writing on the ribbons is a cry from the South Korean people for peace with the North.
On the other side of this tourist/security spot, there was a memorial for all the American men who gave their lives during the Korean War, a war that wasn't even their own.
Our next stop on Mr. Pak's lovely tour of the DMZ was The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. In October of 1978 South Korea discovered a THIRD tunnel that was dug by the North Koreans that crossed the border into South Korea. Apparently, as with the rest of the tunnels, it was created for a surprise attack on Seoul by the North. Today it's this tourist spot. I'm not sure why, but they wouldn't let us take pictures in the tunnel, so we had to settle for the monument outside. So, we went down inside the tunnel. It's about 230 feet below ground, so the descent into the tunnel was no problem, but the hike back up was a bit of a cardio workout.

I've never been spelunking or in a mine or really underground at any point in my life and after this, I just don't know if I will do it again. I don't consider myself a claustrophobic person, but after walking hunching over and through that very narrow tunnel makes me think I might be. Then again, the thought of armed North Koreans being on the other end of the tunnel also added to the stress of being in such a tight spot. The little Korean boys who I think were on a field trip, holding imaginary machine guns, crouching through the tunnel, and whispering in English, "The North Koreans are coming," didn't really calm the nerves either.

After the tunnel (or before the tunnel) we were supposed to go to a look out tower and be able to see a little ways into North Korea, however, the roads were really icy and the bus couldn't make it up the little mountain. It was a little disappointing, but it was snowy and cloudy anyway so we probably wouldn't have been able to see much. Instead, we made our way over to the Dora Mountain Station. This train station is the northernmost end of South Korea. In hopes of unification this train station was built. If someday, by God's grace, the two countries are united then trains will pass through here to Pyeongyang, capital of North Korea, and then to China, Siberia, Russia, and possibly Europe and opening up a lot of economic opportunity for South Korea and the North. So, here's our group standing on the tracks with North Korea behind us. (Behind that mountain, we're not straddling the line or anything..not yet anyway)
We ate lunch at a Korean restaurant that was really tasty and then piled back into the bus to head to the most exciting part of the trip! The JSA, the Joint Security Area. This is where the North Korean military and the South Korean military stand toe to toe and face to face. It's pretty intense to say the least.

On our bus ride from lunch to Camp Bonifas, the military station on the South Korea side, Mr. Pak got really serious over the microphone and said something along the lines of, "When you get inside Camp Bonifas you will be taken to a room to sign a piece of paper saying that you understand you are going to a dangerous area where the North Koreans might kidnap you or attack. If that happens, you're on your own." Silence in the bus and my jaw dropped a little and he says, "I'm just kidding." phewwww..he had me going.

Our bus pulled up to the entrance of the base. We had to all get out and say a temporary goodbye to Mr. Pak as we climbed into another bus with an American soldier as our tour guide. He was pretty tall and armed and super intimidating and let's be honest, not bad to look at for the next hour or so ;) Apparently, South Korean civilians are not allowed in the JSA. It makes sense though, if it was my country and my parents were murdered by the North then I would probably make some sort of rash, inappropriate decision and throw a grenade as soon as I saw the North Korean soldiers.

Anyhow, the soldier ushered us into a room on the base where we watched a short clip about the history of the JSA. He also explained the rules. We were only allowed to take pictures at certain times, we had to wear our guest badges on the right collar of our shirt. We couldn't bring anything with us except a camera. We couldn't point or wave or speak to any of the North Korean guards we would possibly come across. There were more but I can't remember, mostly it was "BEHAVE YOURSELF." And it turns out we did have to sign a piece of paper that said if something did happen and we were under attack that we couldn't sue or anything like that, but the soldier did follow that with, "It's unlikely that would happen and I am here to protect you as well as guide you." What a stud.

I'm pretty sure there is only one tour allowed at a time on base because we were the only tour there the whole time. He didn't really have to tell us twice, the atmosphere at Camp Bonifas was enough to make the most rebellious teenager act like an angel.

It's hard for me to explain the way it felt driving through the camp. Tense, empty, bare, stark, eerie. As we are driving he would say, "oh and over there are live mine fields." It was weird, I think I only saw like 3 military men walking around. It's almost like they were hiding in the trees. Our group of American men and women most definitely stood out, and I had to go and where this bright orange colored coat.

One of the first places we passed on our mini tour was the South Korean village in the DMZ. The North and the South are both to have a village in the DMZ to represent peace or unification or something along those lines. The South's village called, "Freedom Village," is a small farming community of about 250 South Koreans. The Farmers are guarded during the day as they work and the village is guarded by night as they sleep. If I remember correctly, I think they said there had been instances where North Korea kidnapped several South Koreans from this village. Of course your thinking, "Why ON EARTH would anyone choose to live in the DMZ?" Well, it turns out they get paid more than most middle class Americans, they don't pay for their housing which apparently is more modern than most of Korea, and their men don't serve the 1 year mandatory military service..which the last one is a little silly since they are in more danger at all times than most South Korean military men.

We weren't allowed to take pictures while driving around in the bus, if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean Kim Jong Il could just log on and look at my Facebook and see all he needs to see to know about his "enemy" camp.

I'm skipping around in order. I want tell you about the places on the tour of the Camp and then I will finish with pictures and stories from the actual place where we saw a real, live North Korean soldier.

Before 1976, the area we were in was controlled by North and South Korea. In fact, I was talking to the Pastor of my church about it, the Sunday after we went on the tour, and he said when we went into the camp, there were both North and South Korean guards guarding the gate. But in 1976 when a small group of soldiers were cutting down a tree in the JSA, they were attacked by North Korean soldiers and killed a few American soldiers. Since then, there is a line that separates the South from the North through the JSA. Here is the spot where the tree was being cut down. It's now a memorial for the men who died.

Near here, we also saw the "Bridge of No Return." This was a place where POW's were exchanged after the war and were told that they had a choice to stay in whatever country they were currently in or go back to the country they came from. The last time it was used was in 1968 when the North Koreans released American sailors that were being held captive for over a year in North Korea.


Also, around this area, we went to a look out spot. Apparently, at this spot, we were surrounded by North Koreans on 3 sides. It really felt like we were the only ones there for miles, but the soldier assured us that we were being monitored very closely by the North Koreans. Just behind me in this picture is the line that separates the North from the South. And this caption reads, seriously, North Korea, peace.
On the other side of the lookout we saw the North Korean village that is located in the DMZ. I don't remember the proper name, but the soldier called it "Propaganda Village." For a very long time North Korea had huge speakers set up in this village and blasted propaganda through the speakers towards the South. Here in Propaganda Village it looks like people may live there, but in reality no one does, except a few people who raise and lower the North Korean flag. The two villages in the DMZ sit pretty close to one another. The South Korean village had a flag pole donated to them that happened to be taller than the North Korean flag pole. Soooo, in response the North built this enormous "eiffel tower" looking flag pole where their flag flies higher than the South's. I think the soldier said it's the largest flag in the world. However, because of it's height and weight it rarely flies because it needs a large gust of wind to get it up and even then people have to lower it so it doesn't get torn to shreds..childish.

I think Koreans have some sort of obsession with height. Whatever is taller is better. So, North Korea would do these immature things like, sneak into the room where they would meet and cut the chairs on the South Korean side so the North was looking down at the South when they were talking. They would also cut all miniature flags down except for the North Korean so their flag would be above all the other flags.

In mini-retaliation, the U.S. made a requirement for soldiers stationed at Camp Bonifas. The soldier must be over 6 feet tall to serve there. In your face North Korea.

And lastly, we come to place where we see the line and get to cross it into "North Korea." This is an area where many things have gone down. I think in the early 80's a Russian man was taking a tour with the North Korean side, and when he saw the line, he decided it was worth it to run across it and away from Communism all together. He ran and North Korean guards followed, but about 5 North Korean guards were killed and 1 American killed and the Russian made it into South Korea and out of Communism.

Here are a few pictures of the area. You've probably seen pictures online or on the news.

This is the one North Korean we saw, he had his eyes on us. I'm pretty sure most people's middle finger gives a little twitch when they see North Korea's looking at them through binoculars
On top of all this, we got to go into the middle building where the U.N. has held talks with South and North Korea, and we "technically" got to cross the DMZ line and go into North Korea when we were inside. Here is the line. To the right is South Korea and to the left is North Korea.


And here's Dale chilling out with a South Korean guard who could probably kill him in one swift, millisecond motion.
And finally, here I am smiling just for you and saying, "Anyeong haseyo" from North Korea :)