Friday, November 13, 2009

The DMZ

We had a three day weekend, so a number of the ECC teachers headed up to Seoul for the weekend.  We left Gwangju at about 4:00 am to get up to Seoul in time for our DMZ tour.  DMZ stands for Demilitarized Zone.  It separates North and South Korea, and it is the most militarized border in the world.  Our first of three stops on the tour was at the Freedom Bridge, a bridge leading to North Korea.  This stop included an old train that had been bombed during the Korean War.

Our second stop was at the Joint Security Area on the border itself.  This is where any negotiations occur between North and South Korea.  There is a room that is open to tourists ten days a month where you can actually cross over into North Korea.  Unfortunately, that building was closed on the day that we were there, so I will have to take another trip to the DMZ before I leave.  South Korea has discovered four tunnels coming from the North that were supposed to be used for an invasion.  North Korea, of course, denies this and claims that they were dug for coal mining.  We were able to hike down the third tunnel, but they didn't allow us to take pictures in the tunnel.

The third stop was a train station built near the border.  It was built with private funds and it is supposed to represent the hope in the future that someday Korea will be united again.  This train stop would be the last stop in South Korea on its way toward North Korea, the rest of Asia, and onto Europe.

I thought it was an excellent tour showing the history of the Korean War at the first stop, the current situation at the JSA at the second stop, and the hope for the future at the third stop.