Back in Seoul-DMZ

I was up early to go on the DMZ tour on the penultimate day of our trip. I wasn’t too happy, and not because of the early rise, but because the tour I was on wasn’t the one I wanted to be on. More or less, Internet confirmations meant nothing, and me not being at a computer at all times (to make an email confirmation because apparently the Internet one wasn’t valid) led me to not be on a tour that went through the Panmunjom joint security area, which is the coolest part of the DMZ. Danthemanstan was able to get his tour confirmed, so he was fortunate to be able to check it out. Nonetheless, it was a pretty cool experience. But, the Panmunjom area allows one to take lots of good pictures, whereas some of the places I went don't allow it.

Our first stop was the third tunnel (of the four discovered tunnels North Korea has dug under the DMZ). The highway there was heavily fortified, with armed stations every half kilometer or so. South Korea has two year compulsory service for males, so they’ve got plenty of soldiers to fill the outposts. The tour of the tunnel was okay, I kind of leeched onto the guided tour in front of me to learn more. The most interesting thing is that the entire tunnel was, and portions still are, covered in a black paint. As the North Koreans dug the tunnel, and as they retreated, they covered the walls with a black, coal paste, to disguise it as coal exploration. Of course, the South Koreans were smart enough to know there is no coal there, and that the tunnel was designed as a secret military passageway and not a coal mine. In the tunnel I was 170m away from North Korea, which is about as close as I really ever want to get.

Our next stop was Korean Army Base #1, which is located right outside the DMZ, but inside a five-mile military protection area. Telescopes provided views of Panmunjeon, the demarcation line/fence, and the Kaesong industrial park. Kaesong is a place where South Korean companies use North Korean workers to manufacture products. They do this because the North Koreans will work for considerably lower wages than the South Koreans, and many South Koreans see it as a way to reach out to North Korea (many value the idea of ‘one Korea’) because there’s not much political reaching out to be done. I was surprised at how big it was, having the size of a pretty sizable town.

The next stop was Dorasan railway station. It could be better described as a tourist attraction that could be a train station, (when Kim Jong-Il-or his son-decide so). It is built right to the border and connects with all the major lines coming out of Seoul and the rest of South Korea. The may on the inside shows how Korea, via China and then the Trans-Siberian line, could be connected with Paris or Rome, if only that pesky neighbor to the North would open up. There is even a big sign for departures direct to Pyongyang. In reality it’s only used once or twice a day for workers at the Kaesong complex. After this our tour took an annoying turn, and we headed to both a Korean amethyst and Korean ginseng stores. As any good tourist knows, you’re not getting your money worth on a tour if you don’t stop for handicrafts! But I had a good enough time making sarcastic remarks with a couple from San Francisco and a South African flight attendant (making the most of her stopover).

Danthemanstan and I met back up and had a great dinner of grilled pork with kimchi and other typical Korean side dishes. We then headed to the N’Seoul tower, a tower built on one of the taller hills in the city offering great views. Seoul is a huge, modernized city, and it looked like it from the top of the tower. Evidently, it is the ideal location for a romantic getaway in Seoul, as most of the other people in line and on the cable car were couples, some with flowers, cake, or stuffed animals. Don’t worry; I didn’t buy a Teddy bear or flowers for Danthemanstan. Back at the hostel, we caught some TV before bed, which provided for an intriguing look at one aspect of South Korean culture. The TV stations consist of a good share of American crime/drama shows, a large sampling of educational channels-from basic reading to calculus proofs, a couple channels of go (the Asian board game), two channels of Starcraft, the typical Korean news, drama, and soap opera channels, and a few channels with really bad Western movies-“Churchill: The Hollywood Years” for example.