It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to visit a demilitarized zone! Actually the one between North and South Korea is the only one in existence at the moment. so this was a visit with a difference.

For starters it was quite safe (unless N Korea launched an attack but if that happened nowhere in Seoul would be safe!). It was however strictly controlled and we had our passports inspected at checkpoints going into and out of the area.

Our first stop was the Peace Park. On the other side of the beribboned fence soldiers marched and we were strictly forbidden from taking photographs.

The ribbons are left by families who have been separated and who want to remember their loved ones.

This memorial too is used by families at particular festivals when families are supposed to gather together. Many people put food on the large slab and share it between them. It is the nearest that many of them can get to their relatives.

This unassuming structure is the Freedom Bridge. It is the place where POWs were exchanged and as they come over from the north the prisoners joyfully shout ‘freedom’ giving the bridge it name.

The Dora Observatory was the place where we got to look across at North Korea ourselves.

All the trees and bushes in the DMZ are parts of South Korea. All the north side is open so that their guards can spot defectors trying to escape.

Because no one goes there we were told that wildlife is flourishing and rare species of animals and birds are repopulating the area. So that’s a good thing!

The thing which I found most amusing was the ‘Flag-off between the two countries. In the picture on the right you can see the white flagpole of South Korea. Harder to make out because it is blue and further away is the North Korean flag pole.

Anyway they both kept trying to outdo the other by extending the height of their flag pole. Finally North Korea made it into the Guinness World of Records for the tallest flag pole and the competition has stopped!

Finally we went to visit the 3rd Tunnel. There are actually 4 tunnels that the North Koreans have dug in an attempt to invade the South. Well, 4 that have been discovered. The whole DMZ could be honeycombed with tunnels for all we know! Apparently defectors told the south about them and the north claimed that they were tunneling for coal, except that the rock is granite so nobody bought that lie.

We weren’t allowed to take any photos but we were able to descend the 400 meter steep entrance and walk to the blockade that the south have erected to prevent an invasion. Technically this is the furthest anyone can go into N Korea at the moment.

All exciting stuff. Was it a ‘disneyfication’ of war and violence or is it the South telling the world what threats they live under. It was possible to purchase grenade and sub machine gun shaped chocolate!

One overwhelming feeling that comes across is how much the people of the south want unification. They want to be able to travel again and to see their families again. On the south side they are making many preparations for when that will happen.

These are statues to remember all the ‘comfort’ women who were abused during the Japanese occupation. These statues are dotted all over the country. Don’t the faces look young! At the DMZ there are two girls side by side, one ready to go to the north as soon as she can so that the people there can remember their women too.

One thing that we did reflect upon was the fact that at every point we were surrounded by coffee stalls, burger bars or noodle shops. Food was plentiful and easy to get. Yet we were told that in North Korea the people are starving due to the fact that most of the rice that they grow is exported (probably to pay for nuclear weapons) and they have suffered two years of bad harvests. It was such a poignant realization of the differences between the two styles of government.

I know that in the past tour groups have been allowed into the country but this is probably the nearest we will ever get to North Korea.