The reason for our trip was actually so we could go on the DMZ tour this morning. Michael has been to the DMZ 3 times now, but I’ve never gotten to go along. Children are not allowed in the De-Militarized Zone, which is what has been keeping us from being able to visit before now. It was a long tour, which started at 7:30 in the morning, but I’m so glad I’ve finally been able to go now! Michael was teasing me saying I probably looked like a terrorist or spy photographing our UN badges. Hey, how many times will I be a guest of the United Nations? I thought it was a pretty big deal!
Forget the threat by the North Koreans; I was on a tour with the unabomber! Does Michael look like a nut or what?! It was soooo very cold at the DMZ. By mid day it was only 10 degrees Fahrenheit. It was bone rattling cold. The kind of cold that no matter how many layers you have on, it’s still unbearable. And we want to go the Beijing in February? What is the world are we thinking?
Yes, that’s my signature at the bottom of a form recognizing I am entering a hostile military zone. What was I thinking? I know you won’t be able to read the form, so little me just read to you a few of the finer points:
1. The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action. The Joint Security Area is a neutral but divided area guarded by United Nations Command military personnel on the one side (South), and Korean People's Army personnel on the other (North). Guests of the United Nations Command are not permitted to cross the Military Demarcation Line into the portion of the Joint Security Area under control of the Korean People's Army. Although incidents are not anticipated, the United Nations Command, the United States of America, and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act.
c) Fraternization, including speaking or any association with personnel from the Korean People's Army/Chinese People's Volunteers (KPA/CPV) side is strictly prohibited. Personnel from the KPA/CPV side are identified as follows:
d) Visitors will not point, make gestures, or expressions which could be used by the North Korean side as propaganda material against the United Nations Command.
i) If any incidents should occur, remain calm, and follow instructions issued by the security personnel.
Don’t you just love fine print?
Freedom House. This is the building held by the JSA and UN on the South Korean side. It was built as a place to facilitate reunions between families separated in the north and south. Sadly, it has never been used for such. It’s also your last stop before walking out to meet the MDL and North Korea.
You can see North Korea’s building, Panmungak in the background, guarded by North Korean forces (see red arrow). It was very eerie being watched by a communist soldier as you walk outside to the Joint Security Area (the blue buildings in the foreground). The Joint Security Area is accessible by both North and South Koreans but not at the same time. They are used for whatever communications need to occur between the 2 sides dignitaries and representatives. The buildings sit squarely on the MDL, a 12 in. wide, by 5 in. tall concrete barrier that runs down the middle of each building. When we first entered the building we were on South Korean land, but once we passed over that barrier, we were on North Korean land.
Me and a super friendly looking Korean soldier. I really shouldn’t make any disparaging remarks about his friendly appearance; after all he was my only defense against the North Koreans if they decided to attack at that very moment. Interesting side note, all Korean soldiers who are selected for guard duty at the DMZ must be 5’11” or taller. I haven’t seen this many tall Koreans in one place since I got here! For once I didn’t feel like a jolly green giant amongst the Koreans (I know, unusual at 5’3”)!
Now I'm in North Korea. A view looking out the window from North Korea back to South Korea.
Now I'm in South Korea. A view looking out the window from South Korea into North Korea.
Hope we don’t decide to go to war right this minute. If so, Michael’s a goner! Here I am standing in South Korean, while Michael is standing in North Korea. Weird, I don’t think we’ve ever been in two separate countries and yet still able to touch hands!
Back safely on South Korean territory…or as safe as one can be after signing the release form acknowledging the danger of where we are.
Have I mentioned how cold we were? Anyhow, that’s me freezing to death with North Korea’s Panmungak in the background.
As you leave Freedom House, you pass this building, (name???). It was built as a place for North and South Korea to discuss anything not related to war. In other words, as the example our tour guide offered, if North and South Korea wanted to hold a football game against each other, they could meet here to hammer out the details. Needless to say, it's a building that has never been used, imagine that. Really? Did someone really think these two countries would come together to discuss whether the Sox would beat the Yankees this year or not (wink, wink, Jillian)?
Okay, so this explanation is for all the people who didn’t live through the Korean War, or are simply not history buffs on all this DMZ business. So, I’ve been referring to the DMZ as the dividing line between North and South Korea, which is and is not a true statement. The DMZ, as it suggests in its name is the Demilitarized Zone. It’s a zone. A 4-kilometer wide area that surrounds the actual dividing line, known as the MDL or Militarily Demarcation Line. The MDL is the actual “line” I’ve been picturing in my head. Named the 38th parallel because it’s proximity and correlation the 38th parallel of the Earth, it completely divides the peninsula from one side to the other, running 248 kilometers. I was actually a little surprised at how casual the MDL is. Of course, when I say casual, I only mean visually. To actually get to the MDL a person would have to navigate shrubbery and trees scattered with land mines, so it’s really not so casual. But the line itself is only noted with little rusty signs (no, we obviously didn’t get close enough for me to see one) that read which side you’re on. A few feet outside of these markers are these white stumps placed in the ground (pictured above). So now we all know and can keep on pretending like we’re smart!
Gijeong-Dong. Also known as “Propaganda Village”, it is located just within North Korea, it is uninhabited, but supposed to boast the prosperity of living in the communist country. Located in the village is the world’s tallest flag tower standing at 160 meters tall, flying a 300 lb. (dry!) flag! This village is located only 800 meters from the nearest South Korean village, Daesung-Dong (a little scary, huh?). Now you can say you’ve seen the world’s largest flag tower.
August 18, 1976 Axe Murders. This to me is such a sad monument. This monument marks the spot where the axe murder incident of August 18, 1976 took place. This is kind of a long story, so I’ll try to shorten it, but I may leave something out. For those who may not remember it, or may not have even been alive yet (like myself!), it’s worth googling it. In August 1976 orders were made to trim a poplar tree on the South Korean side between checkpoint 3 and observation post 5 because it was hindering visual contact between the two. On August 18th, 18 UNC and ROK Army soldier went to trim the tree, including US Army Capt. Arthur Bonifas and ROK Army Capt. Kim. When they arrived to trim the tree they were met by 28 North Korean soldiers. At first the North Koreans were simply observing the trimming. At some point during this trimming, tensions rose, words were exchanged, and the North Koreans were instructed to attack. Using axes dropped by workers trimming the trees they bloodily axed to death Capt. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett and wounded all the others. So sad. The next day the UN Command initiated the most expensive tree trimming in history. With the aide the US Aircraft carrier, the Midway parked off the coast, 7 Cobras, 20 utility helicopters, B-52 bombers, F-4’s, ROK F-5’s, and F-11’s all flying in addition to 64 martial arts hand to hand combat specialist from Korea on the ground, more heavily armed US and ROK Army infantry, artillery, and armor units, alongside a US Special Operations team, the tree was completely chopped down. The operation, known as Operation Paul Bunyan, cost a total of 82 million dollars (someone correct me if I’m wrong)…the most expensive tree chopping in history! And Marty Mattes thought her tree topping debacle was expensive!
Today a monument stands to Capt. Bonifas and the men who were lost that day. The round base you can see underneath the plaque is the actually size of the poplar tree’s trunk that caused this whole incident.
The Bridge of No Return. This bridge which crosses the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) took 3 days to build in 1953. The only time this bridge was in use was during Operations Big Switch and Little Switch at the end of the Korean War. From April-September 1953, 75,823 communist prisoners held by South Korea, and 12,773 UN prisoners held by North Korea (to include South Koreans, Americans, and Brits) were brought to this bridge and allowed to make the decision whether they wanted to return to their home countries or remain where they were. Of the 75,823 communist prisoners, 22,463 declined the opportunity to return to the north. Shockingly, 347 South Koreans, Americans, and British also declined the opportunity to return and instead remained in North Korea. Once the POWs made the decision where they wanted to be, they were never allowed to cross the bridge again, hence it became known as the “Bridge of No Return”.
While we were at lunch, I went to explore the DMZ gift shop. Look, I found Ella and Sterling’s new spring wardrobe! ROK Army drab! Um, no.
The Third Tunnel. After lunch and a trip to the Dora Observatory, we moved on to the Third Tunnel of Aggression. Sorry, I don’t have much to report on the Dora Observatory other than to say we drove though more mine fields to get there, it’s situated really high in the mountains giving you a great view into South Korea, and it’s really, really cold there in January. I think my eyeballs were beginning to freeze at that point. So, sorry, no pictures (I was too busy trying to conserve my body heat).
The third tunnel is one of four tunnels found supposedly dug by North Korea in an attempt to infiltrate South Korea. The third tunnel was found after a North Korean engineer defected to the South, offering information on how to find this tunnel. Its description as a tunnel of aggression was given by the South, who considered it an act of aggression on the part of the North. North Korea tried to downplay the shaft, officially declaring it part of a coalmine. They even went so far as to paint black coal on the walls to help confirm this statement. The tunnel is only 44 kilometers from Seoul (less than an hour's drive), and was discovered in October 1978. It is 1.635 kilometer-long and 2.1 meters wide. I’m not sure how tall it is but if Michael had accompanied me into the tunnel he would’ve been squatting the whole way. It runs through bedrock at a depth of about 73 m below ground. Want to know how we got there? We walked down a 300 meter walk way at an 11 degree angle. Want to know how we got out? We had to walk back up that same awful walk way! My leg muscles are shot today. Capable of moving a full division of troops (plus their weapons) per hour, it was evidently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul. Today the South Koreans have blocked the actual MDL in the tunnel with three concrete barricades. Cameras aren’t allowed in the tunnel, so I don’t have many pictures to share with you. I wish I could’ve taken some pictures, but instead I had to search the Internet far and wide to find the above picture. It’s a really narrow and damp tunnel. Definitely not a place for anyone with even mild claustrophobia! Michael didn’t actually accompany me into the tunnel. He said, “been there, done that, not doing it again”. Walking the tunnel isn’t the hard part, like I said, it’s getting back out of the tunnel that stinks! On the up side, it was the warmest I was the entire trip! The tunnel was a nice cozy 56 degrees Fahrenheit (like most caves), which was simply blissful compared to the temperatures outside!
This was post climbing out of the tunnel. Notice the nice rosy complexion? Notice that Michael is still wearing his earmuffs?
Here I go kissing inanimate objects again! I have no idea why Korea would want to depict their soldiers as a bobble headed cartoon character. This country is obsessed with “cute”. They’ve got a bad case of “oh, it’s so cute!” syndrome. Seriously, the ROK Army base by our house has a sign out front with dancing carebears on it! You would think it was a stinking daycare, NOT an Army base full of men capable of killing!
When the cats away the mice will play, and play these little mice most certainly did! I thought you might like to see a few pictures of what Ella and Sterling were up to while Mommy and Daddy were at the DMZ. I think both Ella and Sterling probably had a great time playing with their BFF Eve (and vice versa). Look at what a little dancer Eve is! They all love dancing to music in Eve’s room, but I think Eve really goes above and beyond with her wiggling, spinning, and jumping. Now the question begs to be answered, will Kevin and Sarah go for baby number 3 (who is bound to be twins…so 3 and 4!), or did having 3 children for the weekend change their minds?
That would be my two little spooks hiding behind the window treatment.
Mommy who? Doesn’t appear that Ella cares very much that Mommy and Daddy are gone, does it? Actually, my little girl broke my heart. Sarah tells me that Saturday morning Ella was walking around calling “Mommy?” and looking in all the rooms of our house for me. Poor baby. Well, they were both certainly excited to see us return Saturday evening, but I think overall they had a very good time!
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