First, a little background. Korea was liberated from Japanese control after the Second World War, and was split roughly at the 38th line of longitude. This was a temporary split and elections were planned sometime in the future.
The North, with the support of the Soviet Union, nominated Kim Ill-Sung (a leader in favor o Communism) as its Presidential candidate.
The South, with the support of the US and Allied powers, nominated Syngman Rhee (a leader in favor of a democratic government) as its candidate.
On July 20, 1948 elections were held in the South, and Rhee was elected President and the Republic of Korea, was declared. This declaration officially separating it from the North.
In reaction, on September 9 Kim Ill-Sung was installed as Premiere of the Worker's Party of North Korea, and made de facto leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The two nations coexisted for two years until June 25, 1950 when forces of the Korean People's Army (KPA, North Korea) crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded the South. This took the ROK and US completely off-guard, and only three days later the KPA captured the ROK capital, Seoul. On June 27 President Truman ordered US troops to Korea to defend against the Communist encroachment.
By September, the DPRK had pushed to the southern coast. The US staged a massive push-back operation, lead by General Douglas MacArthur, and by November the DPRK was routed back past the 38th parallel past the DPRK capital Pyonyang and nearly to the Chinese boarder. On October 15 the People's Republic of China (PRC) intervened in support of the DPRK and pushed US-UN forces back to the 38th.
Fighting continued for three more years but significant gains were not made on either side. Throughout those years talks continued between North and South until a ceasefire agreement was settled upon on July 27, 1953. Among other things, the ceasefire established the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South as a buffer where no military presence is allowed. The DMZ is four kilometers (6.4 miles) wide with the North and South controlling two kilometers each.
The city of Panmunjom sits square in the middle of the DMZ half in North and half in South Korea.
So, you're saying enough of the history lesson! Where are the pictures!?
Ok, ok. . . pictures.
The tour started, for me, pretty early. I had to be at the Hotel Lotte in Seoul at 10:00am, but my hotel in Incheon is about an hour and a half by subway and cab to Seoul. . . so early I rose to catch the subway.
Uneso Station, in Incheon, is way the heck out from Seoul. It connects to Incheon and Gimpo Airports and from there to the Seoul subway system.
Like I said, it's very large, and was mostly empty whenever I used it, but maybe it's busier during tourist seasons in the summer.
From Incheon to the Lotte hotel and from there on a bus to Panmunjom.
The trip to Panmunjom was about an hour and as we got closer to the DMZ and the Joint Security Area (JSA) one I started to see more and more razor wire and military guard posts.
There were literally ROK guard posts every mile or so. It was pretty intense. We eventually crossed the so called "Freedom Bridge" which has a larger checkpoint and goes into the DMZ. Once we reached the checkpoint an ROK soldier came on to the bus and went through and checked our passports.
I would have taken pictures and videos of all this, but once you enter the DMZ you are not allowed to take any pictures or videos even from the bus. I can tell you though that there is more razor wire and road barricades all the way to Camp Bonifice, the joint US-ROK base operated under the United Nations.
Once at Camp Bonifice, again no pictures allowed, we had another security check, and a briefing before we went to the JSA. The briefing was a brief history of the Korean War, how and why Korea was split, and what the JSA is all about.
After the briefing, we got on to a big blue UN bus and sped off the the JSA. On the way we were given very strict orders not to talk to any of the ROK or DPRK soldiers, not to point at them, and not to touch them. Intense!
At this point, I was very excited and couldn't wait to get there! We exited the bus, and were put in two single-file lines and told not to leave that group. We were taken outside of the ROK "Freedom House" which is basically the main building behind the JSA meeting rooms on the South Korean side (I wasn't told, but I assume there are offices and maybe soldier's quarters in the building).
Pictures! yes, I know! Just a minute. We were marched into one of the rooms and were there for about ten minutes. In the center is a meeting table which sits right on the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) which splits North and South. So, half is in North Korea and half in South.
I was standing behind it, in North Korea.
Another pan of the room. This time I'm left of the first video. I zoomed in on a vinyl sheet with flags on it. It has flags of the DPRK, US, and UN Joint Security Forces. Until 2001, however, there was a shelf with miniature flags on it. In April of that year President George W. Bush met with former ROK President Kim De-Jung in Washington, D.C. On that same day, two DPRK soldiers entered the room and one polished his boot with the American flag and the other blew his nose in the ROK flag. After that, the flags were replaced with one large sheet with each flag on it.
Outside of the room you can see the MDL.
The gravel is South Korea, the cement is the MDL and the sand is North Korea
MDL from the opposite side of the building.
Outside of the room I saw ROK soldiers in their very intense Tae-kuando stance.
They stand half exposed to serve as a more difficult target to hit.
Inside, they are equally as intense.
But I took a picture with one!
This picture was, strictly speaking, taken in North Korea!
So, after about ten minutes, we were assembled in a line again, and shuffled out to a side view of the JSA (no pictures allowed), and then back into the Freedom House and onto the bus.
Once back on the bus, it we had one last view of the JSA.
So, you might be saying to yourself, "self, where are the DPRK soldiers? Don't they stand there all the time?" Well, in fact, they do not. When the South gives tours of the JSA South Korean soldiers provide military security, and when the North gives tours, DPRK soldiers provide security. So, sadly, I did not get to see any DPRK soldiers.
Overall, however, the trip was great, and the tour was fun! I'll have more for tomorrow, but until then.
작별 (Jagby-eol)
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