The bus with journalists from all over the world stops at a checkpoint for the South Korean army to check passports. The border between the two Koreas, 250 kilometers long, can be a demilitarized zone (DMZ) about four kilometers wide, but to get there you have to go through one of the most protected zones in the world and the guide repeatedly warns you that it is not allowed not even taking pictures from the windows. A blue porch that the bus will pass through reads in white letters: “Gateway to Unification.” But this is not a political message. On the other side is Tongil-chon, which means Unification Village in Korean.
The Korean Peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel after World War II, which ended three decades of Japanese colonial rule, with conflict between the two Koreas erupting in 1950. North and South are technically still at war, with the armistice signed on 27 July 1953 ended the fighting, but not the conflict. The DMZ was established along what was then the front line, slightly diagonally at the 38th parallel.
Nearly 70 years after the ceasefire, tensions are high again, with Pyongyang testing more missiles than ever before — and experts say it is preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017. Americans, and even old Japanese enemies, are stepping up cooperation and military exercises, are preparing to respond to any action by Kim Jong-un’s regime.
But that tension is not palpable in Imjingak, a park near Paju (Gyeonggi province), about an hour from Seoul, which is one of the gateways to visit the DMZ and the surrounding area. In addition to the Ferris wheel and other attractions typical of an amusement park, it is possible to cross the Imjin River by cable car – the Peace Gondola – to reach Camp Greaves, the former US military base abandoned in 2004 and returned to South Koreans in 2007, now transformed into a tourist attraction. It is only two kilometers from the southern borderline of the DMZ.
At Camp Greaves, buildings frozen in time show what the North American Officers’ Headquarters looked like, others have been turned into art galleries, and there’s even a youth hostel. The old bowling alley is now a museum, currently hosting the Portraits of the Days of Our Youth exhibit, which tells stories of United Nations soldiers deployed to help the South repel the invasion of the North , as well as wartime correspondents and students who became soldiers.
“Dear mother, I have killed ten,” reads a particularly moving letter written by one of them, Woo-Guen Lee, who recounts how he used a hand grenade and killed “enemies, who were also men” in one “blinks” and asks why he has to fight. “No! They’re coming again. I’ll continue this letter later. Mother, goodbye. No, I’m not saying goodbye, I’ll write again,” the message concludes. The 16-year-old died the next day, the letter was found in a diary among his clothes.
“Pali, pali,” says the South Korean guide. Quick quick. Time is short and the next stop is Dora Observatory, on top of Mount Dorasan. From there we can finally look at the “enemy”. We are located 1.5 kilometers from the southern line of the DMZ and it is the closest to North Korea as tourist visits to Panmunjom have been suspended. It was not the tension between the two Koreas, but the pandemic, that closed the Joint Security Area to visitors, where one step is enough to enter Kim Jong-un’s country.
The emblematic place, with its blue buildings, was where the armistice was signed in 1953 – one table was in North Korea and the other in South Korea. And it was there where on June 30, 2019, then US President, Donald Trump, and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, met with the North Korean leader. And Trump took that step to become the first US president to set foot in North Korea.
In the auditorium of the Dora Observatory, the glass wall invites you to look at the DMZ and one of the most closed countries in the world. A South Korean soldier points out the most important points. On the left, the now-empty road that was built to transport materials to the Kaesong Industrial Complex is visible on the North Korean side. It was a rare example of cooperation between the two countries, with South Korean companies having access to cheaper labor in the North (although wages were much higher than normal in Pyongyang) and the North Korean regime taking advantage of foreign currency inflows . Operating from 2004 to 2016, the complex employed more than 53,000 workers, mostly living in the city of Kaesong – also visible.
Nature knows no boundaries and except for a stretch of dirt road, next to a barbed wire fence and checkpoints a few meters apart, it is difficult to understand where the DMZ is and where Korea starts from the north. The mountains in the background are hers, not least because there is the tower that distorts the radio and television signal from the south and prevents South Korean stations and radios from being heard across the border.
The flags, which are easier to see with the binoculars on the top floor of the observatory, help with demarcation, even though both are within the demilitarized zone. The one in North Korea, which weighs more than 200 kilograms and is 160 meters high, was once the tallest in the world. It is located in Kijong-dong, the “Peace Village”, better known as the “Village of Propaganda” by South Koreans. Just over two kilometers away is the only other village in the DMZ, but on the South Korean side, Daeseong-dong. The flag of South Korea does not reach a height of 100 meters.
Less than 200 people live in Daeseong-dong under special conditions. They pay no taxes, and those born there do not have to do mandatory military service (about two years for men in South Korea – across the border, both men and women do about seven years). But they live under a curfew, monitored daily by South Korean soldiers. The inhabitants are mainly engaged in agriculture – soybean produced in the DMZ and Civil Control Zone is particularly valued, being an integral part of the tofu that was the star of the lunch menu in Tongil-chon – the Unification Village.
The pandemic has interrupted the region’s tourism development plans, which now appear to be slowly recovering. For example, the Dorasan train station has not yet opened. The last of the line from Seoul to North Korea, which some hope will one day be the first from South Korea for those arriving across the border. Next to the old observatory, slightly below the new one, which opened in 2019, some soldiers were also visible doing some repairs, namely next to an old souvenir shop.
Despite the tranquility, the idea of war (if only in history) is everywhere, from exhibitions to tributes in various parks or monuments. But this is not only present on the border. The United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Korea is located in the city of Busan, the last stronghold of the South Korean resistance in the southeast of the peninsula.
After the troops of Kim Il-sung (grandfather of the current North Korean leader) invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, the advance moved quickly towards Seoul. They were better prepared (for example, the South Koreans didn’t even have tanks) and had Soviet support. In response, the United Nations decided to send troops under American command. The Security Council vote passed without vetoes because China was then represented by the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan) and the Soviet Union boycotted the procedure precisely because the representative was not the People’s Republic of China.
The port of Busan served as a gateway for UN forces, with a total of 16 countries sending combat personnel and another six medical aid. 2319 people from 11 countries are buried in the cemetery, with the South Koreans not forgetting the valuable aid they received. Two representatives of these 11 countries, a Turkish journalist and a Thai journalist from the group that visited the country at the invitation of the Association of Journalists of South Korea, laid a wreath of flowers in an official ceremony on the day of the visit. and there was also a minute’s silence in honor.
The UN forces were led by US General Douglas MacArthur, one of the architects of the Incheon landings – Korea’s D-Day. The city on the outskirts of Seoul, which is currently the gateway for most visitors to the country – where the international airport is located – is in an area where the tides are very pronounced. The amphibious landing was considered risky, but was successful in September 1950, allowing it to cut off northern supply routes and regain control of Seoul.
It was the beginning of the turnaround, with South Korean troops eventually moving into North Korea, occupying Pyongyang and moving closer to China. This prompted Beijing to act, send in its troops and reverse the situation. Fighting would eventually stagnate in the current border area until the signing of the Armistice in 1953, but technically the war has been going on for 73 years.
DN traveled at the invitation of the South Korean Journalists Association.
Source: DN
