Established in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, the DMZ is the boundary drawn along the 38° parallel between the communist North Korea and ROK -Republic of Korea (South Korea). For years this 4 km wide "zone" has been the site of many skirmishes.
Prior to the wars in the Middle East, being posted to the DMZ was the "hottest" spot for US soldiers. Today it is pretty tame compared to Iraq and Afghanistan. But for those of us who have not been in many international "hot spots", it really is a quick reality check on life in zones of conflict. The map above shows where the DMZ is located. The interesting thing to note is that Seoul, with a population of over 10 million people and over 25% of the South Korean population is only 35 miles south of the DMZ. The people of Seoul seem to always be watching and looking at what is going on in North Korea because of their close proximity.
Becca and I took a tour arranged through the USO. We had to be at there by 7am--which was no problem because our inner clocks were still set to US central time. We were easily up at 5am and on the Seoul subway by 5:45am. Leaving that early in the morning was good because we had time to figure out the subway system, get a ticket and find our way to the correct subway line. It was super easy because English is commonly found on all signs in Seoul. This is not true in Gwangju where we will be teaching and living.
The first stop for the tour was at Camp Bonifas, a United Nations Command military post located 400 meters south of the southern boundary of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The camp is named after a U.S. Army Captain who was killed by North Korean soldiers in 1986 when he led a group of soldiers into a restricted area to cut down a tree that was blocking the view of a North Korean outpost. They were attacked by the North Koreans and several were killed. At Camp Bonifas we were given a 20 minute briefing that highlighted the history and present situation at the DMZ. Afterwards we boarded special UN buses and entered another restricted area (no photos) to visit Panmunjom, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that ended the Korean War was signed. We were able to enter the blue UN building which straddles the boundary between the two countries.
They have the original table where the agreement was signed inside the building. ROK (South Korea) soldiers were inside guarding the door that lead to North Korea. These guards maintain their "tough guy" look ALL THE TIME! They even have ball bearings sewn into their pant cuffs so when they walk or march they rattle supposedly making them sound more menacing.
I tried to get the guard to smile.....but not possible!
Outside both Becca and I were surprised to see lots of "activity". We were told that we probably would only see one or two North Korean soldiers--but surprisingly to us and to our ROK and US soldier guides, there were lots of people around on the Northern side of the building. This made our soldiers very NERVOUS. They told us that they had not seen this much activity in months! Well.... this next photo shows why.
A group of visiting North Koreans were waiting for us to exit the building so they could go inside. It was pretty exciting....North Koreans were looking into the blue building as we were inside. The photo below is of the North Korean soldiers. It is a bit cloudy because the windows of the building were pretty dirty.
And later, a group of North Korean soldiers "goose stepped" across the area and out of sight. 
All the US soldiers and others breathed a sign of relief when we were finally ushered onto our bus again. Throughout the entire time we were in the DMZ area we were always guarded by both ROK and US soldiers.
One of the other interesting things was the almost complete deforestation of the land in North Korea. There were plenty of trees on the South Korean side of the line. But the lack of fuel for heating and cooking in the North meant that the local people had cut down the trees for fuel.
After leaving the secured area, we traveled to a nearby location where one of four known tunnels dug by the North Koreans was located. Visitors are allowed into one of the four tunnels so Becca and I donned a hard hat and headed down a sloped shaft to access this tunnel. It was pretty neat...but quite a long haul down to the tunnel area and then back up again. We were huffing and puffing! Below is a photo of the guards at the tunnels!
It was a very interesting day and we felt like we received a much better understanding of the DMZ and the many problems both Korea's face. Yesterday I met with a Korean student who will be in my class this summer. He is older and has finished his required two years of military service. He was stationed at the DMZ and manned one of the guard towers in the area. He said the sad thing that really brought home the serious problems for the North Koreans was the number of bodies they found floating in the river. I guess many people give up and commit suicide by jumping into the river. He said that they typically pulled about 10 people out each month. Pretty sad.
Finally...if any of you are interesting in reading an amazing book about present day life in North Korea, I highly recommend the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. It was published about a year ago and gives glimpses of just how surreal and mournful life is in North Korea. The author interviewed six recent defectors. It is a sad but interesting book. I guarantee it will keep your attention and interest.
So.....both Becca and I enjoyed the day and learned a great deal on our first day in Seoul. We both were in bed by 8:30pm that night!
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