DMZ Trip

Saturday was our DMZ trip. It was really interesting and emotional.
During the tour we got to see one of about 20 tunnels that the North Korean forces dug in an effort to get behind the US and ROK forces. A 1.2 km tunnel which would have let out about 30,000 troops per hour.
The tunnel was not that big only about 1.4-2m wide and 2m high. The walls were painted black by the Nth Koreans to disguise the tunnel as a "coal mine" when the ROK forces discovered it. The DMZ area is quite beautiful but it was sad for me to look over at the barren Nth Korean mountains. All the trees have been removed either for firewood or security purposes. We saw a huge flag pole with a 30 metre long Nth Korean flag adjacent to the slightly smaller Sth Korean flag and flag pole. The Nth Korean flag needs 600lbs of drag weight to fly and needs to be replaced 3x a year as it tears easily under its own weight.
There was also a jamming tower in the distance which purpose is to stop Sth Korean TV and radio transmissions penetrating the Nth Border. The tour guide told us that TV shows in the Nth are all prerecorded and of course are mainly propoganda about Kim Jong Il.

At onse stage we saw from our bus window "The Bridge of No Return". This was a purpose built bridge to facilitate the exchange of POW's. POW's were taken there and could chose whether they would like to stay or go to the other side. 13,000 were brought from the Nth and 82,000 from the Sth.

I spent approximately 2 minutes in Nth Korea itself. We were in a UN building at Punmanjeom in the Joint Security Area. There are 4 buildings that sit across the Nth Sth border. We visited one of these where Swiss and Norweigan delegates meet with Sth and Nth representatives. There was a very tired looking UN flag sitting in the middle of a small table.

During our tour of the JSA we were accompanied by 2 US soldiers and 8 ROK soldiers. The ROK men were in pretty intimidating outfits. Shiny blue/black helmets, sunglasses to hide their eyes, jutting jaw lines as if their teeth were clenched and they all stood with clenched fists in a Tae Kwan Do ready position.

Outside the building across the courtyard there was a single Nth Korean soldier standing outside his building. I got a picture of him in his brown uniform and high fronted hat. I spotted a strange red light and apparently there were quite a few Nth Korean Soldiers observing us. The US soldier told us that occaisionally when there are meetings being held in the UN building Nth Korean soldiers make gestures and faces at them from next door. It was a long day but I am really glad that I got to go to the area and learn a bit more about events near there. The US soldier also said that nothing had changed since the nuke test either. Photography was pretty limited through out the area but we got a few shots off.

When the ROK soldiers walk they make a rattling sound because they have ball bearings sewn into the seams of their trousers. During the war this was to give the illusion of more troops approaching as Nthern forces and Allies out numbered that of the Sth.