DMZ

I went on a tour to the Joint Security Area (JSA) of the De-militarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea today.

It was a good tour which also included a trip inside one of the 'infiltration tunnels' that North Korea had built in to South Korean territory.

The DMZ part of the tour is run by the US Army (even though it's a UN operated mission) and one of their soldiers was our guide. On some bits of the tour you could claim to be in North Korea. You also got quite close to North Korean soldiers (who looked quite ramshackle really). The South Korean soldiers (pictured) were very intense and when they are on guard they assume a modified taekwondo readiness position!

It was fascinating learning about all the times North Korea has launched attacks on the South -- even since the armistice in 1953. The tunnels being a prime example (the last one discovered was found in the 1990's, and they reckon there are undiscovered ones).

It was a long day with a very early start to get to the tour departure point for 7am. Lots of people were taking advantage of the 1 hour bus ride to the DMZ to catch up on sleep. I wanted to snooze, but I was trying to watch some Korean film that was shown on the coach (it did have subtitles).