July 26, 2011
Flash forward a month, and suddenly it's time for Jesse to come visit me! I acquired him from the airport without too much difficulty – the flight was delayed an hour and a half, but that was actually very convenient as I was somewhat late in leaving. Finally reunited with my brother whom I hadn't seen in 9 months, Jesse launched into DnD talk almost immediately. I really missed him and his silliness.
We went back to Pyeongtaek, then lazed around all weekend. I had intended for us to do something on Sunday, but Jesse was jet lagged, so we just hung around the house and explored Pyeongtaek a bit. But Tuesday was to be a far more exciting day, for on Tuesday we set forth to one of the most dangerous tourist attractions in SK – visiting the DMZ.
In my infinite wisdom, I booked a trip to the DMZ that started at 7am in the morning. In Seoul. Sigh. I compensated for this sad state of affairs by forcing us to wake up early on Sunday and Monday to prepare for our early start on Tuesday. Jesse, who was already jet lagged, was not a fan of these forced wake up calls. Ha.
CK was awesome and let me out of work early on Monday (I had the last two classes off anyway) so Jesse and I took the 9pm train to Seoul. We stayed in a little motel near the station that Jenna recommended – it's very cute, very clean, and only 40,000 won a room! This is actually the same motel I suggested that Mom and I stay at when we were trapped in Seoul, but she trusted a train station lady over her own daughter and we ended up in a white-washed Spartan room with an incredibly uncomfortable bed and no shower instead.
We got two rooms, since Jesse is somewhat large and takes up an unbelievable amount of space. Due to its cuteness, I slept very well at the motel. I was especially amused by the three different sets of lights in the room – mood lighting for more amorous visitors, no doubt. Like I said, I slept well... up until the 6am wake up call, naturally.
Taking the subway, we arrived at Camp Kimberly in good time. There are US camps spread all across South Korea, with a number in Seoul itself. Camp Kim happens to hold the USO tour headquarters, where the DMZ bus tour departs from. We hung out in the USO tour office for a bit, amusing ourselves by watching a British gentleman trying and failing to find milk and sugar for his coffee. Then we got onto the bus and started our journey north!
Our tour guide was a peppy Korean girl named Honey who was fond of making bad jokes, and then assuring us that she was only joking. My favourite joke of hers had to do with Korean soldiers. According to Honey, since all Korean men have to serve in the military for 2 years, they love to reminisce on their time in the army. They try to impress girls by going on about how they almost got shot, but the Korean girls know better than to believe them. Honey claimed that if any of us foreign girls were looking for a Korean boyfriend, we should ask about their military time, and then act very impressed when they tell their fake war stories. She followed this lengthy story with “Joking! Joking!” Jesse and I suspect that she wasn't joking at all.
We stopped in Camp Bonifas to pick up our military escort, Sergeant Jenkins. Now, I got this name from Jesse, as I don't recall his name, so you can pretty much be assured that it's not actually his name. He was there to keep us in line, and save us from any trigger-happy North Koreans. I think the keeping-in-line thing was more relevant, since the North Korean soldiers shouldn't have any reason to shoot us unless we try to, like, defect to North Korea. I really liked Sergeant Jenkins, or whatever his name was. He possessed a dry wit and jaded attitude, and talked about North Korea like it was some sort of dim-witted child who threw the occasional temper tantrum. Jesse and I were very amused by him.
We took the single road up through the DMZ to the JSA – the Joint Security Area. This is located on the MDL – the military demarkation line – and the DMZ extends for 2 km north and south of this line. The line itself is signified by small metal signposts and the occasional concrete slab. Not exactly well-marked, but I guess the idea is that you shouldn't be going anywhere near the MDL anyway.
Once inside the JSA, we proceeded into a large building which may or may not have been called the Freedom Hall. We were told not to take pictures of this building, although I have no idea why – there wasn't anything particularly interesting inside. Perhaps there's some secret sub-structure, James Bond villain-style. We also had to march in 2 lines single file, which was fun, as we got to witness our fellow tourists failing to walk in a line.
We went out the back of the Freedom Hall, and then BAM! A pickle! No, just kidding, it was North Korea.
To paint a picture, imagine you're standing on the back steps of a five story glass building, flanked by four heavily armed South Korean soldiers. Your American military escort warns you sternly not to leave the steps – you don't want to risk provoking the NK soldiers, who you can clearly see standing maybe 75 meters in the distance.
A two-lane road is at the base of the Freedom Hall steps, and past a row of light blue bungalow-bunkers rises a large concrete building – North Korea's version of the Freedom building. One lonely North Korean soldier stands at the door, peering at your through large black binoculars. There is also a second guard in one of the second story windows, keeping watch on the first guard. You listen as Sergeant Jenkins explains that NK soldiers are always paired up, so that they can shoot their partner if they try to defect to South Korea.
In between the two buildings are two roads, and between them are the blue bunkers. Several SK soldiers stand on the SK side of the MDL, which runs through the centre of the bunkers. They stand perfectly still, fists clenched at their hips in some sort of Taekwando stance. Some of the soldiers are standing with one half of their bodies behind the bunkers – to make them harder to shoot, Sergeant Jenkins explains.
The SK military follows a 3:1 rule – they must have triple the soldiers present at all times, in case NK tries anything. They need to be constantly on guard, because NK refuses to tell them anything. At any moment they might bring a big tourist group out, with 20 guards escorting them, and South Korea needs to be ready to trot out 60 guards to match their numbers.
Now Sergeant Jenkins forms you up into 2 lines again. It's time to go into the blue bunkers! You cross the road, knowing that the NK soldiers are watching your every move. You wonder if they realize what a terrible country they live in. You wonder why more NK soldiers don't risk running across the MDL to defect. And then you're inside the bunker.
It's fairly nice inside, full of polished wooden chairs and tables. Your military escort urges you further into the room, directing you around the tables. Then he calls for attention, and shows you how a line of microphones on the biggest table marks the MDL. “That's the MDL,” he says, turning to everyone on the right side of the table. “You're now in North Korea.”
Oh. My. God.
It was a really awesome moment of realization, suddenly discovering that I was standing on North Korean soil. Jesse and I kept our cool, though. We didn't want to look like foolish tourists. No, I'm just kidding. We oohed and aahed with the best of them, took pictures with the South Korean guard, giggled in excitement, etc.
After this, we went to a bunch of places around JSA – a lookout, the site of the Axe Murder incident, and Dorasan train station. Did you know that a couple hundred South Korean workers go up to North Korea every day to work in a joint-Koreas factory? It's something about promoting feelings of brotherhood, although I imagine you have to be pretty damn patriotic to willingly work in North Korea.
So to recap, the general feeling that Jesse and I got from the trip is that North Korea is essentially a temperamental child. They have no long term plans or understanding of consequences, and violently overreact to perceived slights. Take the Axe Murder incident, for example.
This happened a few decades back, when the JSA was a free for all, by which I mean that the two Koreas were allowed to build guard posts and buildings wherever they liked within the bounds of the JSA. This is in contrast to now, where NK can't build anything south of the MDL, and vice versa.
The US troops had two guard posts set up close to one another, but a poplar tree grew that blocked the view between the guard posts. Uneasy with the idea of not being able to see from one guard post to the other, US troops decided that the easiest solution was simply to cut the tree down. A handful of US soldiers grabbed some axes and proceeded to do so.
Then everything went to hell. The North Korean soldiers freaked out and demanded that the US soldiers stop cutting down the tree. When the soldiers-turned-lumberjacks ignored them, the NK soldiers attacked. They killed at least three US soldiers, and wounded several more. All this because the US troops had the gall to cut down a tree.
A few days later, after both sides had time to retreat and figure out how to resolve the whole mess without restarting the war, the US troops decided to attempt another tree-chopping operation. But this time they came prepared, complete with heavily armed guards, air support, and reinforcements ready at the drop of a hat. North Korea wisely decided to just shut up and let them cut down the damned tree.
We also went to the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel, one of 5 tunnels that North Korea has built trying to tunnel their way to Seoul, although only 4 have been officially recognized by the South Korean government. This is because, when the fifth tunnel was discovered, relations were really good between the north and south, and SK didn't want to mess things up.
The tunnel was long, dark, wet, and uncomfortably low. Jesse and I spent pretty much the entire kilometre walking half bent-over. Still, it was a neat experience, and entirely worth the resulting back ache. According to Honey, had the tunnel been completed, NK could have used it to transport 30k+ soldiers to Seoul. A terrifying concept, so definitely a good thing that SK found the tunnel.
All in all, a very cool, one of a kind experience. I wonder if I'll ever live to see the north and south Koreas united. I have no doubt that the day will come – I just don't see it happening for at least a few more decades.
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