The DMZ, a tourist site for many, a festering wound for Koreans

“Hi this is your guide, please make sure you arrive on time at the meeting spot. We cannot wait for you as there is tight instructions from the military on when we can enter.”

That was the whatsapp message that greeted our phones the night before and morning of our trip to the Demilitarised Zone.

Another message was sent, “please understand that the trip can be changed or cancelled at short notice.”

I’ve been on tours, but just the start of this one made it clear that this was going to be more interesting than I’ve ever experienced.

As you no doubt would have guessed by now, we were on a once in a lifetime trip to the Demilitarised Zone, to glimpse a peek of North Korea – the hermit kingdom.

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The Korean War is one of the most major events that has shaped human history in the last century.

It was one of the major proxy wars that took place as part of the Cold War – the ensuing stalement has led to the Korean nation being divided into two different countries.

The war saw a ping-pong of control of the Peninsula between the communist-backed north Korean forces and the capitalist-backed south Korean forces.

Fierce fighting continued and was only put to a pause when Dwight Eisenhower was elected president of the US and negotiated an armistice agreement that was signed in Panmunjom.

Since then an immaginary line called the 38th parallel has existed separating a people into two political entities, splitting families apart almost permanently…

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The bus was waiting for us in downtown Seoul and was almost complete by the time we showed up (we were on time, others were ahead of time) and we set off on the minute.

“I will now pass you this sheet, please fill in your name and citizenship in order okay, if the order is wrong for even one person the whole bus will not be able to pass”.

Things felt serious. Because they were – we were after all going into the edge of a zone (even though there has been an armistice since 1953 both North and South Korea have never officially signed a peace agreement. The first stop was to the DMZ cultural centre.

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“Dear guest I would like to tell you the story of my grandmother and uncle,” said our guide as she went 0n to share a heartbreaking story of how her grandmother had lost one of her children when he was a child after he was abducted by the North Koreans. Her grandmother had given up all hope of ever seeing her son in her lifetime until relations warmed in the 2010s and she was selected to see her now 50 years old child.

“Notice how the South Koreans were fully expressive, but the North Koreans looked so calm…” our guide said as her voice trailed off.

The desire for reunification has been strong on both sides with many still hoping for Unification. Time may have blunted that personal trauma but the desire fore reunification is probably still strong – most visibily in the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang when Korean competed as one team.

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After a one hour bus ride, we had arrived at the DMZ cultural centre – a full tour site built near a war zone. The centre is built on the former train tracks that would lead directly to Kaesong in North Korea (if it was still operating) – with monuments that are used for prayer to a day of eventual unification. As well as bridges for people to leave their prayers.

And it was packed with tourist.

The big arcade that is built at the cultural centre, there is an amusement park next door that was not in operation the day we went,

An ancestral shrine that was set up especially for Koreans who have escaped the north, or who have relatives in the north to offer prayer to their ancestors. This is the furthers they can go without putting themselves in harms way.

A set of sculptures dedicated to the memory of young Korean women who where forced into sexual slavery as comfort women when Korea was under Japanese occupation

The only store in the whole world that sells North Korean currency

Figurines of South Korean, American and United Nations soldiers who have kept the uneasy peace on the border

A collection of pictures of people who go to the cultural centre and look into the distance to glimpse their homeland and family that they would never meet again

Looking out into the barb wire filled DMZ

A bridge towaards what was once a South Korean train stop where people would get on/off on their way to the North

Sturctures that used to hold a bridge – the bridge itself was dismantled during the war

The bridge to Kaesong that still functions. It was last used by the North Koreans who returned by train after the Pyeongchang games

A man hangs prayers by the gated up train station for loved ones in the north

There was something humbling about that… that what was a toursit site to most of us, is a deep scar that festers on a whole people…

ON THE MAP