The day we went up North (Korea!) - a DMZ Tour

[Katherine]: Last weekend we finally made it to the most interesting part of Korea - the border with the North. We had been planning to do the tour for ages, but bad weather had discouraged us from going there for the 4 month long winter. Now, the weather is slightly (I'm still shivering at my desk today) better, we thought we better get in some touristy stuff.

DMZ - Tourism Central!

The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Is the fortified border between North and South Korea, which has separated the countries since the end of the Korean War in 1953. The border runs across the whole of the country (obviously) but the heat of the action is seen in Panmunjom - JSA. Most tours just offer the chance to look at the North from the distance, but we went for the pricier USO (US Army) tour, which allowed us to actually go to the border and inside North Korea (very exciting!)

South Koreans face off against North Koreans - ooer Missus! (The border is halfway along the blue buildings)

We had an early start to our day, having to get up at 6am to meet our tour bus at 7am. The bus was packed with ESL teachers and oldies, including a very annoying woman who oh-so conveniently was sat behind us and did not shut up talking into her phone the whole time despite the fact that everyone was trying to sleep!! I really don't give a shit if she wants to 'talk to her Momma/sister/aunt etc etc '.


We arrived at the border, and were met by a shouty US soldier, who said we had to get off our bus and go for a briefing. Despite his scariness I liked him because he called me 'Ma'am' - nice! In the briefing we were given a history of the war and of incidents that had taken place on the border since 1953 (mostly N. Koreans coming and killing/causing mayhem - I'm sure you'd get a different tale on the other side).  We also had to sign a form to say we had to follow a load of scary rules like not pointing, looking in a funny way etc and generally not piss off the North Koreans. By the end of the briefing I was worried I was going to be shot!

Shouty US Army guy

After the briefing (and one of my mandatory loo stops) we had to march single file up some stairs to the actual border!! It was exciting but pretty scary as I didn't really know what was going on and Greg walks faster than me! Anyway, we were taken into a tiny conference room. The room is one of several buildings that separate the 2 Koreas - there is no wall between the two, just a wooden beam. South Korean soldiers guard our side and came into the room with us. The room is used for the (rare!) talks between the two sides but on this day we had soldiers just to guard us! There was a table, and behind one half of it was S. Korea and behind the other half was N. Korea! We found out we were stood in the North, which was pretty exciting and got our picture taken next to a unsmiley soldier in sunglasses (they wear the sunglasses so the North can't see their faces/feel their fear etc). After a few minutes in North Korea we left the room and went up on some steps to watch the North Koreans and take pictures of them. We only saw 2 soldiers. One kept hiding and the other marched back and forth. I had to keep resisting a sudden urge to point! 

Greg stood in North Korea (looking serious!)

Katherine stood in North Korea (also looking serious!)

This was the best part of the tour and when it was over we visited some observation points and learned more about the history of the area. I thought this was actually interesting as I'm shockingly ignorant about the border and the war/troubles in the area. We stood up at One observation point (Check point 4?) to look out to the North Korean 'Propaganda Village'. The village was apparently set up to show an idyllic North Korean place (no one actually lives there) and it has a giant flag outside it. Apparently this is a competition between the North and South to see who can have the biggest flag (I think it's just the North really and the South don't really care because they're not total nutjobs - just a bit!.  We also saw 'the Bridge of No Return' the place where POWs had to cross to go to either N or S at the end of the war. Once they crossed they couldn't go back. It was a really nondescript bridge, but such a poignant place - I can't imagine having to make that decision! 

The Bridge of No Return

After the tour of the JSA the interesting part of the tour was over. Next, we endured hell in the 'Third Tunnel'. The South Koreans have discovered 4 tunnels dug by the North Koreans to try and infiltrate. One, imaginatively named 'The Third Tunnel', is open to the public. However, stupid Korea foiled us again as despite the fact that a cool train thing (Greg thought it was a rollercoaster) took you down to the tunnel (300m down a steep incline) lucky us had to walk it! Therefore I nearly broke my back on several occasions and kept hitting my head on the top of the tunnel as the ill fitting hard hat I was given kept falling over my eyes! The tunnel itself wasn't very interesting, I have been in more interesting ones at Ypres and Vietnam, but the walk back up the hill was hellish!! I admit I'm completely unfit but c'mon - it's meant to be weekend,  I don't want to just be constantly in pain, Korea! :( Before going to the tunnel we had to watch a boring and overly dramatised video about how the DMZ is now some beautiful landscape or something - the script was dire! I think this is the video:

Anyway, enough Korea bashing (yeah, right!) The next part of our tour was to an observatory. The Dora Observatory. I think this is where most tours go to, to get a view of North Korea. Anyway, it was not very good as you could not take proper photos and it was a pretty misty day. I was pleased we got to actually go to the JSA as the view from Dora was not great! After this it was 'delicious Korean food' time. This is a lie, as obviously Korean food is disgusting!! Luckily, Greg and I are a pair of geniuses and cunningly bought Subway sandwiches the night before the tour in Seoul. We waited around for everyone in a cold waiting room for about an hour with only this weird old guy for company and some Koreans who had come to mock the Japanese tsunami tragedy - nice work Koreans!


The tour was almost over by this point and why we had to have lunch on it I don't know. The DMZ is less than an hour from Seoul so we could have been back there by 2pm if we'd not stopped for lunch. Clearly, it was an attempt to earn extra cash for their annoying Korean friends/themselves! Maybe it was like that thing in Turkey where they always take you to a carpet  factory on guided tours??


After the pointless and non-delicious lunch, we went to the final stop on the tour - Dorasan Station. It was built as the furthest North station in South Korea and one day they hope to 'link it with the North'. I'm cynical, but I guess this won't be for a while. Anyway, George W., that great thinker, was there when they laid the tracks so the sleeper he laid was a bit of a tourist attraction. We also got stamps to show we had been to the DMZ, some people got them in their passports but the sign said not too and I was being a bit wussy ( I wish I had now cos it would have looked cool). 

Dorasan Station - yeah you can't actually get to North Korea from here!!

This was the end of the tour, and we all got driven back to Seoul. Again, the woman talked loudly on her phone and annoyed us no end! It was like coming full circle! Good times....