"In Front of Them All"

The JSA T2 room where officials from the UNC meet with high ranking officials of the North Korea Government.  The horizontal table in the center of the room marks the line between the North and South Korea.  Behind the South Korean solider is the door to the North.

August has been set as the pinnacle of our summer here in Korea.  The previously aforementioned summer events in China, Kelly's parents and our friends Brooke and Devin have subdued us to critically low energy levels.  The chronological events of the recent blog posts and the few to come are still sporatic and out of place.  While these misplaced accounts of August may leave you scratching your head more than Memento, bear with me. 

As mentioned before, Kelly's parents arrived at the Seoul airport before us after our excursion in China.  They visited us for about a week.  From my personal stand point I would consider their visit a success.  I will, however, have to leave their experiences to be told by them, not I.  Unfortunately neither Randy or Nancy have a blog....yet.

With that being said I'm going to fast forward their visit to the end when we went on a tour to the DMZ.  The DMZ to us was one of those places where we knew we had a responsibility to see.  It would almost be foolish not to.  I'm totally kidding, but Kelly and I do regard historical, cultural and significant places in other countries important to see.  The plus for us is that we had 1 of 60 weekends to choose when to go.  Kelly's parents, however, did not. 

This history between North and South Korea is NOT simple (note previous posts).  This tour was very educational and above all, tense.  From the moment we got on the tour bus in Seoul, it was business.  Even though the tour guide tried to ease the tension, there was no way getting around the facts, we were going somewhere that didn't accept horseplay.

Our tour guide first started off with some basic rules.

1.)  Do not take a picture unless you are told you can.  If 1 person, 1 PERSON, takes a picture when they aren't supposed to, the JSA security (not the tour guides) will shut down the tour of 100 people. 

2.)  Do not point if you see a North Korean soldier.  The guide expressed this more than once.  He said it is very natural to want to point out a North Soldier or North Korean building.  He said that if we were to point, the North Korean soldiers would mistake that as a gun and open fire.

This is a South Korean ROK soldier standing guard for us.

3.)  There is also a strict dress code.  One of which involves wearing tennis shoes or other closed toed shoes.  The reason for this is because if there were to be a violent outbreak we would be able to run for cover.

When we arrived at the JSA we were sent to a debriefing room.  In this room we were able to get a crash course on the Korean War and the resulting tensions since the 50's.  We then had to sign a waiver that we were not to hold South Korea, USA or the United Nations responsible for an unpredictable hostile attack, and our being there could jeapordize our lives (paraphrased).  I signed it then gave a heavy, weary sigh.

World's dangerous backstage pass

This is the Joint Security Area (JSA).  The brown/gray building in the distance belongs to North Korea.  The blue buildings are where the meetings are held beween the United Nations and North Korea.  In between these two blue buildings was where the Major Henderson incident occured.   It was very discomforting watching a North Korean soldier staring at us through binoculars noting our presence.  It was very quiet and tense.  The only sound we could hear were our own footsteps and the cicadas in the trees.

Inside the building was a little more comforting becuase we felt safer with these guys.  These are South Soldiers and are always poised for an attack.  All ROK soldiers are highly trained and are at the highest level of Taekwondo.  They are dangerous.  If I were to have crossed in front of him or touched him he would have hurt me, badly.  These guys stand in a still position, but are actually guarding something.  The reason they are wearing the sunglasses is becuase they are watching you and do not want you to know it.  In other words, more legitimate than The Queen's Guard.

Outside of the MAC buildings.  The two South Soldiers to the right are staring at the North Soldier and the guy facing us is staring at us, waiting (as if he were expecting) for something to happen.

 

We were able to stand on the North Korean side of the conference table which technically placed us in North Korea. 

On our way out of the MAC building

This is the infamous "Bridge of No Return".  This was named after the war when North Korea possessed thousands of POWS from the war and the South had North Korean POWS.  In the exchange, the prisoners were able to choose and walk their respective ways.  North Koreans could go home and South Koreans and other allied forces could leave the North.  Once they crossed the bridge, they would never, ever, be able to return.

This was the last freely functioning train that operated consistently through all of Korea.  It was blown to bits during the war and is covered with bullet holes.

It was very comforting to leave the DMZ.  Even though Ilsan where we live is about 15-20km's away from the border, it still feels a world away.  One thing I also learned, was that Seoul is designed for an attack from the North now.  One way of doing this is through anti-tank walls.  This is actually a very interesting defense strategy.  Occasionally along the highways there are overpasses.  One would think nothing of these overpasses as they are highly useful for two major roads to cross without impacting each other.  These anti-tank walls blend into these overpasses.  The entire overpass on the highway is composed of huge slabs of concrete.  These slabs of concrete are designed to be blown up in time of invasion.  These blown pieces of concrete would render the highway useless to tanks and other military vehicles and would significantly delay attack.  Very, very interesting where we live over here.