DMZ

The delayed post… back from the First Weekend with the Robb’s.

We made it back from the most heavily armed border in the world with little more than wind burn from a cold almost Saskatchewan like wind.

The DMZ is a strip of land (248 km long/4km wide) that separates North and South Korea. The Communist country of North Korea is led by Kim Jong-il, the former, Kim Il-sung (the ‘idea man’s’) son, and is very different from its more democratic neighbours in the South.

“The 38th parallel north — which cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half — was the original boundary between the UN-controlled and Soviet-controlled areas of Korea at the end of World War II. Upon the creation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1948, it became a de facto international border and one of the most tense fronts in the Cold War.
Both the North and the South remained heavily dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 through to the outbreak of the Korean War. The conflict, which claimed over three million lives and divided the Korean Peninsula along ideological lines, commenced on June 25, 1950, with a Soviet-sponsored DPRK invasion across the DMZ, and ended in 1953 after international intervention pushed the front of the war back to near the 38th parallel. In the ceasefire of July 27, 1953, the DMZ was created as each side agreed in the armistice to move their troops back 2,000 metres from the front line, creating a buffer zone four kilometres wide. The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) goes down the center of the DMZ and indicates exactly where the front was when the agreement was signed. Since the armistice agreement was never followed by a peace treaty, the two Koreas are still technically at war. “ wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

there has been progress recently though... and the people are hopeful
October 4, 2007 the leaders of North and South Korea pledged to hold summit talks to officially declare the war over and reaffirmed the principle of mutual non-aggression.”

“Owing to this theoretical stalemate, and genuine hostility between the North and the South, large numbers of troops are still stationed along both sides of the line, each side guarding against potential aggression from the other side. The armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ. Soldiers from both sides may patrol inside the DMZ, but they may not cross the MDL. Despite these, sporadic outbreaks of violence due to North Korean hostilities has killed over 500 South Korean soldiers and 50 U.S. soldiers along the DMZ between 1953 and 1999.” One of these terrible killings was an axe murder, a result of the South Korean soliders tying to cut down a tree that was blocking a view in to North Korea. Another interesting story, involved the door you see us posing in front of (in the ROK solider pose… arms out like a box..) a Korean soldier went to lock the door and upon getting close to the door the North Korean soldiers on the other side heard him coming and tried to pull him into the North Korean side to do gawd knows what… needless to say now two men lock the door that separates the North and South. (We are standing in this room [the blue room] for the pictures.. this is where meetings occur between the various countries)

Much hostility exists in South Korea towards North Korea. The living conditions for North Koreans seem “unheard of in the year 2008”… and yet they are what they are and sadly many family members still remain displaced by the border. For example, some facts that I found striking were: (now I have not researched all of these but I did literally take note from our tour guide… so I warned you not to take them completely as fact)

• The average annual income of South Koreans is $20,000. And in NK a mere. $400.00.
• In North Korea there is but one radio channel/tv channel that is set and monitored by the government… they know nothing that they “are not supposed to know” about the outside world.
• The food is given out in rations
• Wikipedia states ‘North Korean defectors have testified to the existence of prison and detention camps with an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates, and have reported torture, starvation, rape, murder, medical experimentation, forced labour, and forced abortions.”
• There is much malnutrition- in 1994 there was a huge food shortage (nearly 3 million perished) South Korea (as some of there family members live here)--- came to their aid and gave them money (along with cows… etc.) with no expectations for repayment… well guess what happened then????... North Korea announces that they have started their own nuclear development… GLAD the money went to good use! Eh?!?!?!
• On that note and the note that the countries people have little freedoms it is interesting that South Korea has set up a large manufacturing plant in Korea to do what else? But exploit a poor country… hmmmm some sad truths of humanity always do come out.
• “On March 17, 2007, North Korea told delegates at international nuclear talks it would begin shut down preparations for its main nuclear facility. This was later confirmed on 14 July 2007 as International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors observed the initial shut-down phases of the currently operating 5 MW Yongbyon nuclear reactor, despite there being no official time line declared. In return, the reclusive nation has received 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil shipped from South Korea. Once the old small nuclear reactor is permanently shut down, North Korea will receive the equivalent of 950,000 tons of fuel oil when the six-nation talks reconvene. Following breakthrough talks held in September 2007, aimed at hastening the end of North Korea's nuclear program, North Korea was to "disable some part of its nuclear facilities" by the end of 2007, according to the US Assistant Secretary of State.”

Incursion tunnels—after the armistice agreement four tunnels were found made by the North Koreans leading to South Korea for a pressummed attack. The “first tunnel was about three feet by four feet and extended over 1,000 meters beyond the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) which is the actual dividing line between North and South Korea. When the first tunnel was discovered, it was reinforced with concrete slabs, electric power and lighting, weapons storage and sleeping areas and had a narrow gauge railway with carts, capable of allowing approximately 2,000 soldiers per hour to traverse it. The second was discovered on March 19, 1975, of similar length, between 50 and 160 meters below ground, but was larger than the first, approximately two meters high by 2 meters wide. The third tunnel was discovered on October 17, 1978. Unlike the previous two, the third tunnel was discovered following a tip off from a North Korean defector. This tunnel is about 1,600 meters long and about 150 meters below ground. A fourth tunnel was discovered on March 3, 1990. It is almost identical in structure to the second and the third tunnels.” (wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone )
We visited the third tunnel and crouched around through it. The walls were painted black to give the appearance of a coal mine but no traces of coal have ever been found.

Flagpole
“During the 1980s, the South Korean government built a 98.4 metre (328 ft) tall flagpole in Daeseong-dong. The North Korean government responded by building a taller one — the tallest in the world at 160 metres (525 ft) in Kijong-dong.” Wikipedia—this made me laugh on the tour… maybe overcompensating??? But in a propaganda fuelled nation it makes sense.

• the picture of the two soldeirs is a picture of two North Korean soldiers standing guard watching us from their side. We were not to make any motions or obscene gestures to them. I thought about winking at them as I passed… I wonder what would have happened? I am sure nothing… but it is interestingly eerie to realize that you are so watched by both the American, South Korean and North Korean soldiers when you are on the DMZ.

Finally, on a funny note we watched a video on the tour. It was this time an American propaganda video about the ‘greatness’ of the DMZ. It involved a little girl in a music video throwing flower petals in the air. The video included how the DMZ has become a ‘wildlife refuge’ … makes sense as little goes on there… apparently there even are vampire deer there (deer with crazy teeth)… odd I know… I think they are the result of some gone wrong nuclear testing in North Korea… but who knows. Anyway, the video was all lovey dovey and hoped for peace between the two countries. I, of course, hope for peace too but it is interesting that I did pay money and was a ‘tourist” to something that is so terrible and is reality to many many people.

Life can be strange…. So I guess my final thoughts on the day are that we are so lucky to enjoy all the freedoms we do and that we are don’t live each day in fear.

XO- me