Wanderlusting Around: Wanderlusting in North Korea?

North Korea here we come!!!

So I've gone against every piece of advice everyone gave me when they heard I was coming to Korea (including my parents), do not try and get into North Korea! So I am writing you this blog from a North Korean prison, probably should have listened to you...my bad.

My friends and I have been trying to book a tour for the past 3 months and all the good tours had been full. There's lots of options when deciding how, when, what kind of tour you want to go on, they range from around $45 - $145. If you are going to take the cheap route call me and let me know, I will take you myself and charge you half. You will basically go to a lookout spot on a mountain and pay to use binoculars to look over the boarder. We went with the more expensive and by far the better tour. We chose a USO tour run by Koridoor (I highly recommend spending the extra bucks and doing this right). We had our Korean tour guide, then when we went into the JSA we had a U.S. soldier on our bus and a brigade of R.O.K. soldiers in front and behind us at all times. Our tour consisted of the DMZ/JSA (DMZ= Demilitarized Zone & JSA=Joint Security Area) and the 3rd tunnel (along with few small side stops)...keep in mind, the 38th parallel, marks the most heavily militarized border in the world. Here we go!

Just driving up that far north is a bit intimidating. Before you know it, the Han river becomes lined with barbed wire fence and military lookouts. It certainly begins to look like somewhere you are not supposed to go.

The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel

Our first stop was The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. This tunnel was discovered in October, 1978. 1.95 meters high, 2.1 meters wide and 1,635 meters long, it penetrates 435 meters south of the military demarcation line and ends at the Truce Village of Panmunjeom. This is the closest tunnel to Seoul (that they have found), only 52km away. 30,000 armed-soldiers can go through this tunnel per hour. Because of it's location and size, it is considered more threatening than the first 2 tunnels (4 total have been found, they believe there are more, they just haven't found them yet). This was bit creepy, you put on a hard hat follow the queue down this dark musty tunnel. The military has highlighted all the dynamite holes with yellow paint, so you can see exactly how the tunnel was made. It's real cold, real damp and really weird crawling through a tunnel you know was made my North Koreans to specifically surprise attack the South Koreans. When you come to the end of the tunnel there is a black door with a slit you can look through and view the N. Korean side of the tunnel. Just to give a little perspective, the fourth tunnel was found in March 1990. South Korea believes there are tunnels all across the front line, they still look for them today. Even though the North insists these tunnels are made by the South, the direction of the explosives, the slope being lower in the northern end shows that the North made these tunnels. Basically, the North is using the same excuse I did growing up, "yeah impossible...there's no way that was me, must have been you."
Unfortunately, this was one of the many areas where photos were not allowed!

First glimpse of North Korea at Dora Observatory.
I like to call this part Dora the Explorer...
sorry

Dora Observatory

I couldn't afford the 500 won, so I
just looked over the binoculars instead of through them.

This was our second stop and our first real glimpse over to the North. The observatory was built by the ministry of National Defense on September 8th, 1986. I'm trying to put in as many dates as possible because it's just insane how recent most of this is (plus it makes this blog super professional). This stop is on all of the tours and you basically pay 500won to use the binoculars and check out the border. It's still really interesting because in most cases this is really the first time you see the North. There's a few things you can see here that stand out.

Kijong-dong aka propaganda village aka similar housing to
my sophomore year at WSU

First, is the North Korean village of Kijong-dong. This is an uninhabited, propaganda village. Basically all the buildings are fake, the doors and windows are painted on, electric lights go on timers, the insides of the building are completely hollowed out. Until the early 2000's they would blast propaganda over loud speakers 24/7, trying to entice defectors from the South. It was certainly tempting, but I wasn't falling for it (besides, I've lived in similar buildings during college).

Ridiculously massive North Korean Flag

Second, the North Korean flag. The North erected a massive 160 meter flagpole with a steel woven 270kg flag hanging from it. The reason for this giant monstrosity, it was in response to a South Korean flag 98 meters high in the nearby village of Taesong-dong. The South Korean flag was actually donated by the Olympic committee in 1988 when the games were held in Seoul. South Korea then donated the flag to the tiny village of Taesong-dong to protest North Korea, whom protested the South Korea Seoul Olympics (this last little tidbit was just to show you that I was actually paying attention on this tour...more interesting tidbits to come).

Third, the tree line. You can clearly see where the border is because it's also where the tree line is. This is not because of elevation, it's really strange. Trees just stop growing in North Korea. I've heard things from, they are so poor they need to use the trees to burn to keep warm. I've heard they eat the bark so no trees are left. It's a strange sight to see and I'm not really sure why this is. (In all honesty, this was probably discussed during the tour, when I took a quick 7 min nap).

Dorasan Train Station

Train ticket to North Korea?

Dorasan - Train Station
Dorasan is a railway station situated on the Gyeongui line in Pagu City, which once connected North and South Korea. It was opened in 2002 and no longer runs trains between the two due to confrontational policies. You can buy a ticket (50 cents) to go down to the tracks and see where the trains came and went.

Making sure no trains make a break for it. Like I said,
these guys are masters of Taekwondo, only 1 soldier to stop a train.

On the ticket it reads "Not the last station from the South, But the first station toward the North." Because Dorasan Station is the northernmost station in South Korea, it will play a key role as customs for entry to the Chinese and Russian people, as well as the North Koreans if there is ever resolution between the two.

Me and the North Korea

Camp Bonifas
This is the base camp for the United Nations Command Security Force-Joint Security Area. It is located 400 meters south of the southern boundary of the DMZ. This is where the soldiers who support the Military Armistice Commission at JSA live. It was another area where photos were strictly prohibited. The base was also a cover story for a 2009 issue of Sports Illustrated, described as the "most dangerous golf course in the world." The "course" consists of a 192-yard, par-3 hole that sits 440 yards from the DMZ. We were told that if you chip a little too far to the left your ball will end up in a mine field. Pretty crazy place to live I would suspect. Although, since this area is so remote and nobody really goes into the DMZ, it is known to have some of the best wildlife in Korea. There are deer that, instead of growing antlers, grow fangs! There have been sightings of Siberian tigers and black bears as well roaming the dense forests. It would be a real tragedy if someone managed to escape the North, only to find themselves face to face with a tiger, real bummer...

Staring contest go! You win...you always do.

Me and a ROK soldier...can you guess who is who
in this picture?

Inside the JSA

Panmunjeom/JSA

Panmunjeom is located inside the DMZ, and is the most forward location in the DMZ that can be visited by civilians. The actual location has two addresses, one is for South Korea and one if for North Korea. Now that I think about it, I really should have tried to mail a postcard from here.

North Koean soldier. They called him Bob.
That's not a joke either, they really called him Bob. Not sure what
kind if Intel they had but that's what they called him.

Panmunjeom is the common name of this area, the official name of the negotiating site is the Joint Security Area (JSA). This was by far the coolest part of the tour, and also the most intense. The JSA is located 62 km northwest of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and 215 km south of Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. We were given very strict instructions as far as where we can stand and what we can photograph. There was one point of the tour when the U.S. soldier made us line up in 2 single file lines and said we were to keep walking, do not stop to take photos, do not even stop to tie your shoes, you are to keep walking no matter what. This is when he took us to the actual Joint Security Area. It's basically a giant square office 800 meters in diameter. After the Armistice Agreement was signed, the JSA became the neutral location where the guards from both sides were allowed to move about freely. It was the only place in the DMZ where the MDL wasn't clearly marked. This changed after North Korean guards murdered 2 UNC officers with axes on August 18, 1976.

The soldier on the right is obstructed by the building to make
him a more difficult target. I guess the guy in the middle
didn't give a shit.

After the now famous Ax Murder incident, the MDL was marked within the JSA, hence being able to technically cross over to the North Korean side within this building. Today, this is still the only place where border crossings are allowed. Each side owns six guard posts in the JSA and more than thirty-five armed guards can be present on each side. Typically this building is a venue for exchanges and negotiations between the North and South. Since this is also where you can potentially be arm to arm with a North Korean soldier, we were given strict instructions about avoiding all forms of communication, verbal and non verbal. We were also told that the R.O.K. military stationed at the JSA were top ranked Taekwondo specialist and ranked in the top half of their class in testing. They all stood in a Taekwondo ready stance with their dark aviators straight face and not moving. It is supposed to be an intimidating look towards the North Korean soldiers. I think they have it down.

This was the last stop of our tour, also a really surreal and eye opening experience to an amazing day overall. It's one thing to read about, and hear that these two countries are still technically at war with each other, and have been for over 60 years now, to actually cross the border and be in the tunnels. It was truly an experience that I can only poorly describe, and one I will remember for the rest of my life.