I have a little catching up to do because I want to share some of the recent adventures I've had in Korea and Japan. I'll start with Korea, where I visited last month for another short weekend trip. I went to Korea the weekend of April 16-18 to visit Elizabeth. We decided before we left that we were gonna see the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) or go bust. The tour we originally wanted to take would have given us a chance to see and crawl through tunnels that North Koreans had dug beneath the DMZ, discovered in the 1970's. Though this tour was booked, we caught a later one that took us into Panmunjom and other DMZ hotspots. Our tour itinerary can be found here: http://www.tourdmz.com/english/07guid/tour1_1.php?tag=Image1_1
It was interesting learning about the current situation in North Korea, as told to us by our tour guide, a South Korean lady. On our drive up to the DMZ from Seoul, about an hour and a half via bus, she pointed out a few bare mountains on the North Korean side that could be seen from the bus windows. "The mountains are bare because the North Koreans have used all the trees for firewood," she explained. She also told us that all of the media families in North Korea have access to is only government propaganda. She said we can now understand some things about living conditions in North Korea because of the smuggling of a few cellphones to North Korean families, who have since told a few people their stories over the telephone.
It was also interesting for me to check out the DMZ because my grandfather had fought in the Korean War in the early 1950's. Though I didn't know it at the time, the hills and land I saw on the tour was terrain he more than likely lived on and knew intimately; a place where he and his fellow US Marines sacrificed everything they had to prevent Chinese occupation. I'm currently reading a book he wrote about his experiences and the history of US Marines who fought in the latter part of the war, from 1952-53. It's interesting to read this book after seeing with my eyes the kind of place and terrain he was living on during the war. The book is called "The Outpost War," and is the first of two books he wrote, the other being "The Final Crucible" - by Lee Ballenger. I'm certain more of the historical significance of my visit to the DMZ will unfold as I turn the pages to a book my own grandpa wrote! I really didn't realize that he was stationed right there so close to Panmunjom, defending hills I probably just gave a passing gaze to but which were to him, 56 years ago, truly his old 'stomping grounds.'
I wish I had better anecdotes from the trip, but it was what it was. I can only offer two nerdy facts that everyone should know: the Korean DMZ, 2 and a half miles wide, is the most heavily fortified border in the world, and has some amazingly well preserved landscape but due to the amount of landmines present (and other issues, I'll bet) has not been studied for environmental purposes.
I didn't take many pictures, but I think if I collaborate with Elizabeth I can score some of hers to put up on the site. Here's what I have so far:
A snapshot of the landscape of the DMZ and the Imjin river. In the middle right of the photo, you can see the 'Freedom Bridge,' (the smaller one with people on it) - famous for being a location for POW exchange. It was also used by Korean refugees coming from the North.
The entrance to the Freedom Bridge from the South.
A South Korean soldier standing guard in a room within the Joint Security Area (JSA), the only place where diplomatic negotiations can and have taken place between North and South Korea. Our guide told us that North Korean soldiers are sometimes present in this room, but we didn't see any on this particular day.
A view of South Korean soldiers among the blue JSA buildings and a large, important looking building in the background.
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