I've been to North Korea...

Yesterday we went to the DMZ (de-militarised Zone) that separates North and South Korea, and it was an amazing trip.

The first picture shows the South Korea soldiers squaring up to their North Korean counterpart, (can't see him but he's at the top of the steps) with the middle of the line of the DMZ running straight through the middle of the huts, which have doors at either end and are used for peace talks. There was one N. Korean on the steps, and at least one watching through the window with binoculars. We weren't allowed to point, gesture, wave or do anything that could be construed as provocation, although how much of it is theatre I don't know. There is a barracks holding over 100 soldiers just down the road that apparently can be mobilised and on the scene in 90 seconds though...

The second picture is me in North Korea! The S. Korean soldier next to me stands on the exact mid point, and protects the UN flag on the table. They all wear dark glasses to intimidate the N. Koreans, and stand in that pose which is the "rock" or ready to fight pose of Taekwondo, of which all of these soldiers are black belts!

One of the more memorable stories from the area is when the US went on a mission in the 80's to trim back some branches of a tree, in order to be able to see one check point from another. A group of 3 set out, and within minutes were ambushed by 30 N. Korean's who killed 2 of them with axes, which they now have displayed in the N. Korean peace museum (?!). 3 days later, the US went in with 15 tree surgeons, 50 troops and had cover from a Battleship, fighter planes, and helicopters and the tree was successfully chopped down! The third picture shows this area, next to the Bridge of no return which used to be the only route between the two countries.

My absolute favourite stories are about the tunnels though... In the 70's, South Korea discoved the first of 4 tunnels that the N. Koreans have dug into South Korea, all aimed towards Seoul. At least 2 of them were large enough to move up to 30,000 troups and armoured vehicles through per hour. They reckon there's probably about 20 around in total but they haven't found them all. But, the best part is that when they were first discoved, the North Koreans denied digging them and said it must have been the South Koreans, despite the directions of the explosions and digging directions, in what has to be one of the best ever "it wasn't me, honest" scenarios. THEN, it get's even better! When one of the tunnels was discoved, as the N. Koreans were retreating, they painted the tunnel black with coal dust and said "we were mining for coal, honest" despite the fact the entire area is solid granite! Brilliant! We were able to walk down into one of the tunnels which runs under the DMZ underneath the ground in the picture above somewhere.


The last picture shows one of the biggest flagpoles in the world, holding the biggest flag which is about 30m long, and stands in paradise village in N. Korea. You can only see it flying in a hurricane because it is so big and heavy and was constructed to outdo the S. Korean flag pole which is a mere 150 tall and therefore 100m smaller. Ironically for Paradise village, nobody actually lives there. Possibly because they got fed up with having 6 to 8 hours of propaganda per day blasting from speakers in the direction of S. Korea to tell them how great it is and that they should defect! Not that any S. Koreans other than the army actually live within earshot anyway!