Day 5 – The DMZ and Me

Thursday, May 23, 2019

One of the parts of this trip I was most excited for was our scheduled DMZ tour. I had read up on this process online and was ready I wanted to walk into the neutral buildings and technically stand on North Korean ground and be terrified and exhilarated all at once. I was revving myself up mentally not to slip and step over any BIG lines and, you know, come back to the US in one piece. 

None of that happened this trip, and that’s really okay. What I got to do was better, and a whole heck of a lot safer. 

A quick history lesson. The dividing line between North and South Korea has a 2km neutral zone on either side to prevent war along the boarder, though both sides patrol it constantly just to be safe. The DMZ (demilitarized zone) is kind of a big nature preserve at this point, with many local species, who were previously close to extinction, now thriving. 

Our class took a tour trip around the DMZ about an hour away from Seoul and stopped at four different landmarks. First up was Imjingak Park. The park was designed after the Korean War as a way to console residents from both sides of the country after the military division line was put in place. I think that when a lot of people think about North and South Korea together, and the DMZ, they don’t think about beauty, they think of destruction. The park is a good mix of both, complete with a reflection pool, art installations, and even a mini amusement park (their words, it was reminiscent of a community roll-in roll-out carnival). All in all, it felt peaceful.

None of this is to say that reminders of why the DMZ and this park exist weren’t present. On display is an old steam engine from the time of the Korean War. It had been a casualty of the war suffering bombs, fighting, and was covered in hundreds of bullet holes. Adjacent to the engine was a fence covered in ribbons, each with a message of peace, in countless languages. 

It hadn’t really hit me before coming to this park the connection I have with Korea. My grandfather was enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War and I know he served overseas during that time. What I’m not sure about is if he was stationed in Korea at all. He passed away a few years ago and speaking about his time in the service wasn’t a part of our relationship growing up. After seeing the DMZ I wish, even more than normal, that he was still around to answer more of those questions and see if perhaps we have now been to the same place. 

Our next stop was the third infiltration tunnel. Since the establishment of the DMZ and the military division line, North Korean operatives have been trying to come into South Korea by all means necessary. I realized today, how little I know about Asian history. I took history all throughout my education, and have a firm understanding of US and European history but feel I never touched on Asia. Between the 1970s and now, South Korea has discovered four tunnels leading from North Korea to Seoul for a coordinated attack, and believe there are many more. Our class had the opportunity to walk down to the third tunnel and see how far the North Korean prisoners got before being found. 

We weren’t permitted to bring cameras down with us, but it was a site to see. To get down into the tunnels we walked down a 350 m ramp, and then walked a few hundred meters through the tunnels, hunched over, because in many places the high was less than 5’5″. We were allowed to get all the way to the closest South Korean built barricade. In this tunnel there are three in place to prevent any other North Koreans from getting through. 

The walk back up was rough. Darn my phone for being in the locker not counting the steps and equivalent flights of stairs I conquered. Needless to say, at this point, I was FULLY regretting skinny jeans today, ( it got up to 90F) but regardless I beat the ramp. It was that or stay down there forever so it wasn’t that hard of a choice. 

Despite the seriousness of the site there were plenty of cutesy tourist photo spots available. Being an American, I was, of course, obligated to partake. 

Stop three was the closest I would get to North Korea: the Dora Observatory. Unfortunately it was a bit foggy/smoggy today which made it hard to see much of North Korea, but we were able to pick out buildings and roads. The photos don’t do it justice. 

There was a souvenir shop near the observation deck and they were selling wine from North Korea. It might be snake oil, but I got some anyway. I won’t try it till I get home on the off chance its poisoned and need medical attention. I didn’t get the international health insurance plan. (I’m sure it’s safe to drink, I’m just being funny. My South Korean tour guide recommended it and had tried some before.) 

The final stop of our tour was to Dorasan Station. It is the farthest station north in South Korea, and if the North and South agree to reunification, it will be the station that connects the two. A few years back it was used to operate a freight train for business purposes between the two regions but has since been shut down. I was able to pay $1 for a ticket to ride the train, get the transfer stamp (not in my passport, and go out on the platform. Our guide was speaking about how excited she is at the prospect of reunification. Maybe one day I will be able to ride this train for real.

After getting back to the city, I changed into the shorts I should have been wearing all day and we went exploring for more dinner. I’m not sure the name of the restaurant we wandered into (it was in Korean) but the food was great. We all enjoyed bowls of soondubu jjigae – soft tofu stew. It was a yummy, filling, slightly spicy meal.

After dinner, I went out exploring to another part of the city. I was on the quest for Magic the Gathering cards in Korean. My siblings put in a special request and even found a store I could find them. The guys at the store thought it was cool I was from the states and I thought it was cool to see all of the board games I play at home offered in Korean. I made the executive decision not to buy any, because I still can’t read Korean.

My magic adventure took less time than I thought so I decided to wonder around the university town I stumbled upon. I found a bar and grabbed a beer and blogged a bit.

During all this I was thinking of my boyfriend, Matt, who is back home, and wondering what I would bring him. And it hit me: a Spider-Man comic in Korean. That’s cool, right? So I googled where to find acomic book shop, and there was one just five minutes away. Perfect.

I headed that way, onto Cafe de Comic. When I got there, was surprised to find it was actually a cat cafe where you could read a comic (not buy one) and pet a cat. Not really what I was looking for. So I went back to Google and found Better Comics. Perfect. This will be better. It was ten minutes so I walked over and, once again, walked into a cat cafe that had comics you could read with a cat. Still not what I wanted.

The woman there let me know that there aren’t “comic book stores” in Seoul, but I might be able to find one at a book store. Oh well, an adventure for another night.

On my way back to the train I walked through another shopping district, and IT. WAS. PACKED. throughout the streets there were various street performers that were wanna be K-pop bands. Some had better crowds than other, so I stopped and listened to a few. I will be seeing a K-pop concert tomorrow so this will help get me in the mood. It was nice having a night to myself after a busy couple of days.

Oh, PS, I neatly spoiled my dinner with a waffle. Waffles are a big thing here, who knew. It was delicious.