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Today we went to the DMZ – the “demilitarised” zone separating North and South Korea and it was to much info to wait for my weekly update. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945 the Soviets accepted the surrender north of the 38th parallel and the American forces to the south. It was never meant to be a line dividing the country but the two halves developed along political lines according to the overseeing powers and on June 25 1950 North Korea launched a surprise attack. The two sides were ridiculously mismatched – South Korea was a largely rural country while the North had the industry and was supplied with weapons by the USSR.

Seoul fell in 3 days and within 3 months the North Koreans had pushed Southern forces all the way down the peninsula to Busan and controlled 95% of the country. UN forces intervened and a coalition of 16 countries sent troops with another 5 sending medical support teams. The USA sent the most troops and had the most casualties of a foreign power at 33, 642 deaths. Ethiopia and Columbia were interesting additions to the international team and Turkey lost a surprising number of troops with 724 deaths. The Republic of Korea lost 152, 279 soldiers.

Under General Douglas MacArthur a daring landing at Incheon (near Seoul) turned the tide of the war and the North Koreans were soon pushed back almost to the border with China (all the way in places). At this point China, not relishing the thought of a US backed democracy at their doorstep, stepped in and helped the North Koreans push the UN/South Korean forces back to around the 38th parallel. All this happened within a year; Seoul had changed hands 4 times, about 3 million people were dead, millions more displaced and the country was divided along almost the same line as it had been before the war had started. There followed 2 years of stalemate with peace talks and border skirmishes happening simultaneously as both sides battled to control strategic hills before a truce was signed. The final peace deal was signed by delegates from North Korea, China, the USA but intriguingly not South Korea.

At the cessation of hostilities each side withdrew 2km from the line of control and the resulting 4km wide, 248km long zone is what is now known as the Demilitarised Zone. The line itself is marked by white stone posts and metal signs. In Panmumjeom what used to be a village is now the Joint Security Area where negotiations between the two sides take place. Overlooked by 3 story buildings, oodles of video cameras and a North Korean guard with binoculars we made our way into the blue buildings which straddle the demarcation line between North and South Korea. A line of microphones on the table monitored conversation and South Korean guards with martial arts black belts stood around in Taekwondo poses and Raybans. Brett and I posed with the guard who blocked the door to the North Korean area.

Outside some of the South Korean guards stood at the corners of the buildings with only half their body exposed to the North Koreans, though we tourists stood fully exposed. When there are no tourists the guards go inside as there’s not really any need to have people out there with the amount of recording equipment in use. Which made the North Korean guard with binoculars pretty redundant, but the North Koreans do like to put on a show. From Observation Post 5 we looked across to Kijodong, a village in the North Korean side of the DMZ. In this case the word “village” is used in the loosest possible way – while there are buildings, the world’s tallest flagpole flying a ridiculously large flag and speakers broadcasting propaganda to anyone unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance there are no actual residents. The flag is 31m long, weighs about 300kg and takes 50-60 people to raise and lower.

There is also a village in the South Korean side of the DMZ which does actually have residents. The 218 residents of Taesong-dong live restricted but well subsidised lives in their ancestral village and are guarded and protected by UN forces. To maintain residency they must spend at least 240 nights per year in the village and must be at home and accounted for with doors and windows secured by 11pm. In return they are allocated 14-17 acre plots of land compared to average plots in the South of 2-4 acres. Most plots seem to be devoted to rice or ginseng and the wealthy “farmers” often hire others to till the land and reap in the rewards, earning up to $US80,000 per year. Other perks include free housing and free college education anywhere in Korea. Women can marry into the village but men can’t, though I’m not sure if this means women have to leave the village if they marry an outsider?

After lunch we went to visit the “Third Tunnel of Aggression”, a 1,635m tunnel dug by North Korean forces with the aim of invading South Korea. Discovered in 1978 with the help of a defector, the tunnel was wide enough to move 30,000 troops (with weapons) to a point 44km from Seoul in just one hour. On realising the tunnel had been discovered the North Koreans painted the walls with coal soot and claimed it was an abandoned mine shaft, despite the fact it was heavily booby trapped and in geology which contains no coal. Sometimes the things I hear about North Korea remind me of China, except that China has hired a better PR team lately and people are actually starting to believe the propaganda.

We also visited Dorasan train station, the final stop on the railway line that links up to Pyeongyang. It was opened in 2002 but as yet no passenger trains have crossed the border. Instead freight trains take raw materials to the joint North-South Korean business zone in Kaesong where 40,000 North Korean workers provide the labour for South Korean enterprises. South Korea also supplies the electricity and telephone lines. The North Korean government takes the majority of the US$55 monthly wage and only passes on around US$5 though it being a communist country all essentials are, in theory, provided and the US$60 annual wage is twice the average. For South Korean firms the benefits are a cheap, educated and Korean speaking labour force that is more attractive than Chinese or other Asian manufacturing bases. Another feature of the town is a large jamming tower, designed to block all radio and TV frequencies coming from South Korea.

More about our adventures in the next weekly update :o)

Tags: DMZ, North Korea, Seoul, South Korea

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We’ve been in Seoul for just over a week and I’m not sure what I think of the place. I guess it’s hard to adjust to being in the big city after so long in the less populated areas (though we have also visited the 2nd and 3rd largest cities). The thing that’s struck us the most is the incredible number of foreigners here. Apparently there are 130,000 foreigners living in Seoul although 60% are Chinese so we can’t necessarily tell them apart until they speak. Given the number of white faces at tourist attractions I’d say there are a lot of people who come to Seoul and then leave Korea. We certainly haven’t seen many of them in other parts of the country – even Gyeongju which surely must be on even a basic Korean itinerary.

Our first excursion was to a granite capped hill poking out through the jungle of highrise apartments. Korea’s overall population density is 480 per sq km but almost a quarter of the 48.4 million people live in the capital, many of them in massive high density forests of apartment towers. The hillside was associated with shamanists and we saw some of them waiting for customers or carrying out rituals. We couldn’t get to the top for a view though as it was occupied by the military. It’s easy to forget how close to the North Korean border we are here and even Pyongyang isn’t all that far away.

We’ve also visited a couple of the palaces, residences for Korea’s royal family in the Josean dynasty (1392-1910). Changdeokgung was probably the best preserved one as it was rebuilt in 1610 after the Japanese invasion of 1592. It was originally built by the 3rd Josean king who claimed that the topography of the previous palace wasn’t auspicious enough, though the brochure points out that he killed a number of people in order to ascend the throne and may not have wanted to live in the same palace as hosted the bloodbath. It seems intrigues, murders and betrayals are common amongst royal families all over the world. In another episode at Changgyeonggung Prince Sado, heir to the throne, was sealed in a rice chest by his father after it was reported that he was mentally ill and behaving erratically. Thankfully things have changed since 1762, we’ve been impressed with the number of mentally and physically disabled people we’ve seen out and about.

In the same area as Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung is the Jongmyo Royal Shrine where the spirit tablets of Joseon Kings and Queens were enshrined. Like most things in Korea the buildings were destroyed in the 1592 Japanese invasion but the spirit tablets were saved. There are 83 kings and queens enshrined in two buildings. After a royal death was mourned at the palace for three years the spirit tablet was moved to the Main Hall but in order for someone to “move in”, another spirit tablet had to “move out” to the Hall of Everlasting Peace. Only royals who achieved outstanding deeds were allowed to remain indefinitely in the main hall. Once annually a ritual offering of food is carried out by male descendants of the royal family. The Lee family is symbolised by a plum blossom which you see decorating many of the palaces and it seemed there was no final purge of important family members like there has been at the end of some royal lineages. A grandson of King Gojong (1852-1919) apparently operates a guesthouse just north of where we’re staying.

Resistance fighters during the Japanese colonisation weren’t as decently treated. We visited the Seodaemun prison, built in 1908 to house 500 prisoners at a time when the total holding capacity of prisons on the entire Korean peninsula was 300 people. Animatronics dummies and recorded screams detailed the various tortures used and a bizarre interactive display let you sit in a chair in what used to be the execution room. After being “judged” the chair dropped an inch and the noose above your neck let you know it used to drop further.

Early in the morning on the 23rd the ex prime minister committed suicide. We spent the day exploring Nandaemun market and having a very productive stock up and get things fixed day but kept seeing busloads of police kitted out in riot gear. Eventually a man passing by told us what had happened: Roh Moo-hyun finished his 4 year term last year and was very popular for his honesty and anti corruption focus but in the last month he has been hauled up on charges that family members accepted US$5 million from a wealthy businessman. It seems the younger generation supported Roh Moo-Hyun and dislike the current prime minister as he has done some bad things that everyone knows about (except us). The police were amassed in areas likely to be gathering grounds for protests. There seems to be a massive outpouring of grief and we’ve seen a few alters with crowds of people offering white chrysanthemums and bowing before a photo of him. In a largely Christian country suicide is uncommon and an ex world leader taking his life is drastic in any country. Having said that, I’m not sure that Australians would mourn a past leader with quite the same reverence.

Tomorrow we’re headed to the DMZ and Panmunjom which should be an interesting day, especially given current headlines then on Friday we’ll leave Seoul for Suwon. En route to Jeju Island we’re also planning on stopping in Jeonju to explore the hanok village there. Then it’s back to Seoul to catch a boat over to Beijing and on to Tibet before Brett heads back to work. I’ll probably hang out in China while he’s away and then we have to decide if Kyrgystan or Xinjiang is next on the list. Long term I’m looking at possibly trying to get a job based in Germany that takes mentally and physically disabled people on holidays.

Tags: Changdeokgung, Jongmyo, Roh Moo-Hyun, Seodaemun, Seoul