DMZ

This weekend, Hongcheon-gun EPIK teachers were invited to go on a cultural trip to the Cheorwon region near the DMZ (the De-Militarised Zone): the no-go disputed area between North and South Korea. Interesting fact: Cheorwon actually used to be part of North Korea, but because of the Korean War in the 50s, the old city was completely destroyed and borders were changed, making the area part of the South, and a new city was built in its place.

Travelling around the area was really exciting. We had to pass through various military checkpoints, with armed guards watching from their posts up top, barbed wire and road blockades constant presences around the place. There are also fences everywhere blocking access to large areas of land due to unexploded mines. Driving in the bus, our guide pointed out mountains that were actually in North Korea. They looked pretty grim and bare. We were disappointed not to see much else of the north though, like the propaganda village or any North Korean soldiers checking us out with their telescopic lenses (SEGUE: What has struck me here in Korea is that soldiers are just regular guys who you often see walking around together in shopping malls in uniform. And yet here they are being trained to fight in a war if one ever breaks out. A constant possibility. When Korean males turn 23 (I think), they are conscripted into the army for 2 years service. All the guys I've spoken to dread the day and hate the policy, but I don't think there’ll be changes to it anytime soon).

Our first stop was a small museum with army vehicles, equipment, artillery and the like. We then walked to Goseokjeong Pavilion, a spot overlooking a gorgeous bend in the slow moving river. It was pretty busy with kids and families hanging out on a Saturday morning. The highlight of the tour for me was getting to walk inside the 2nd observation tunnel, a secret spy tunnel into the south built by the North Koreans after the war. This was the second one discovered, one of four in total. It was so cool, but also a little freaky knowing that something like this existed and thinking what could have happened had these tunnels not been found out! Going 150 m underground, we walked inside for over a kilometre. It was narrow, cold and wet. The sharp, rocky ceiling was so low and inconsistent that I had to crouch most of the way, and people kept hitting their heads on it. Those hard hats really came in handy!

We then went to the old North Korean Labor Party Building, the communist party office headquarters but also a front for all sorts of killing, torture and brutality in its basement. Now a skeleton of a building, the interior is falling apart and empty. But the place gave me the creeps, thinking about everything that happened in it. It was depressing knowing that people are capable of doing this stuff to each other. But the tour all in all was neat. And I survived the DMZ. Woop Woop.