Touring the DMZ

Sidling up to the soldier who guards the door to North Korea

On guard against North Korea

As mentioned in a previous post, I am in fact in Seoul right now. Tickets to Korea are cheap and why not spend spring vacation touring another bustling Asian megalopolis? I am staying with Oona, and Shansi Fellow/fellow friend Mike is staying down the street with our other friends Dan and Katie, all of whom are currently teaching English in Korea.

After just a few hours sleep Monday night I woke up at 5:30 am to make it in time to a DMZ tour along the border with North Korea. Mike had already gone on a DMZ tour when he visited Korea last fall and our hosts all have to work during the day so I ventured out into Seoul on my own. Surprisingly, I didn't get lost on the subway and was able to locate Camp Kim without any problems. The DMZ tour I went on is organized by the USO, a volunteer organization which helps American soldiers abroad feel at home and also serves to connect them with local communities. The tour of Panmunjom (otherwise known as the DMZ) itself is guided by United Nations Command military personnel who took us to such sites as the MAC (Military Armistice Commission) building, the Pagoda at Freedom House and the Bridge of No Return, the only bridge connecting North and South Korea. All in all it was a bit eerie to tour the official dividing line between the two Koreas. At one point I stood next to an ROK (Republic of Korea) soldier, dressed in green garb and dark sunglasses, who was guarding a door to the North. Hard to believe I was just a few feet away from the infamous land of Kim Jong-Il.