Monday, October 23, 2006
DMZ Tour
This Saturday, Sam and I joined some friends (Trent and Emily, who worked with Young Life when I was in the main office...they're teaching in a town that's northeast of Osan) for a tour of the DMZ, the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea. We wanted to go see the DMZ now, in case things were to heat up with the North. (Sidenote: To put many of your minds at ease, while we were in the DMZ, one person in our group asked our soldier-guide if the nuclear happenings up north have changed things at the DMZ. Nothing has changed, and the U.S. and South Korean soldiers are not at all fazed. They realize that this is yet another desperate attempt for Kim Jong-Il to try to gain the power he craves.)
Our bus started north at 11:00. After about an hour of driving, we arrived at our first stop: a military building outside of the DMZ. We were taken into a large room with a huge window that looked out over the DMZ, and North Korea. We were given a brief description of the various landmarks that we could see, and then were able to go outside to look through some binoculars and "take pictures". Funny thing is that we were only allowed to take pictures from behind a yellow line that was about 20 feet back from the viewing area wall...we weren't sure why, must have just been protocol! The views were a bit hazy, but it was neat to have our first view of the North.
Second stop was "Tunnel 3". After the war, North Korea started to dig numerous tunnels that were supposed to take them underneath the border and into the South. Fortunately, 4 of these tunnels have been found. We put on our hard hats, and headed underground. The South built 3 barrier walls in this tunnel, once they discovered it, and then opened it to the public. The tunnel walls were black, and we learned that the North Koreans had painted the walls with coal on their retreat out of the tunnel. They then tried to convince the south that they were simply mining, even though there isn't ANY coal in that region. When that explanation was turned down, the North Koreans changed their story and accussed the South of digging the tunnel (which was proven false because the direction of drilling for the dynamite holes went from North to South). Interesting fact: if the tunnels had been completed, the North would have been able to transport 10,000 troops into the South in one hour.
Our third area to visit was the Dorasan Railway station. This station was built by the South in hopes of unifying the Northern and Southern railways. The dream is to one day be able to take a train from Dorasan to Pyeongyang (the capital of North Korea). The North was originally on-board for the railway project;however, now that the South has completed the track, Kim Jong-Il refuses to allow a test of the railway to take place. Dorasan was a ghost-station. It was uncanny to see the ticket booths, waiting room, screening area, and arrival/departure board...ready, but empty.
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