Last Saturday I took the U.S.O. DMZ tour to Panmunjeom and the Joint Secruity Area of the South Korean-North Korean border. There are quite a few tour operators in South Korea, but the U.S.O. is considered to be the one that offers the most access, as well as being the cheapest (44 USD). The men here in green are South Korean soldiers (Republic of Korea, or ROK) gazing stonily to the North and Panmungak, the North Korean (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK) base of operations for the JSA. At the top of the step of Panmungak is a DPRK guard who was quick to whip out some binoculars when our rather large tour group stepped out into what has to be one of the smallest and strangest pieces of real estate in the entire world.
DPRK soldier standing in his home country, about 100 yards or so from us Imperialist Invaders standing in the South.
We left in tour buses from Seoul around seven A.M. that morning, and in under 90 minutes we’d made it to Camp Bonifas, the American/South Korean control zone for the JSA. (Captain Bonifas was an American soldier who was killed in a strange event in 1976 known as the “Axe Murder Incident.”) It was a cloudy day, which meant we wouldn’t be able to see as far into North Korea as we might otherwise have been able to, but the dull sky was a fitting backdrop.
Inside one of the blue “T” buildings (as in “temporary,” although they’ve been standing for over 50 years now) you can see one of the conference rooms where North and South Korean officials have sporadic talks, many of which have broken down into farce. This South Korean soldier is actually standing on the DPRK side of the conference room, and I’m not sure if the ROK and DPRK forces trade the honor of guarding these flimsy structures from the inside. The pose is a modified taekwando stance, and the effect of it, along with the shades, is intimidating to say the least. Our tour guide, a US soldier, let us know that “If you touch them, they will touch you back.” I was more than willing to take his word for it.
Back outside of the T-building, looking northeast. These ROK soldiers are wearing leather shoulder patches designating them as military policemen, which is one of the many minor but highly specific rules set into place after the armistice agreement of 1953. Open hostilities between the ROK and DPRK ended, for the most part, but an actual peace treaty was never signed. Standing here, you’re technically still in a war zone.
One thing I didn’t know about the JSA was that civilian South Korean citizens aren’t allowed on this tour. There are various observation platforms along the DMZ, but the area of the JSA itself is off-limits to non-military South Koreans. It’s strange, but it makes sense if you think about it. Citizens of Communist nations like China and Vietnam aren’t allowed into the JSA either, at least from the South Korean side.
Here’s another DPRK soldier manning a control post a little bit to the west of us. I expected to see more of a display of military might from the North, but there’s no telling how many soldiers, observers, and probably snipers were packed into their buildings. Both sides had plenty of video cameras, however, that were easy to spot.
There’s definitely a palpable tension to the JSA, but not really a sense of outright danger – more like an oppressive paranoia mixed with dread. It’s truly a surreal experience.
Entering and leaving the JSA from the South Korean side you go through Freedom House, a modern building constructed by South Korea for North and South Korean families separated by the war to meet with one another. Sadly, it’s never actually been used for this purpose. You pretty much have to keep moving on the tour, so I couldn’t manage a better shot than this one as we got back on our bus to see more of the area. The US military guides were friendly enough, but also quite firm in their “requests” for us to move more quickly.
We were taken to an observation post overlooking the infamous “Bridge of No Return.” This US serviceman was giving us some history of the area, and the many incidents that have taken place over the years. This picture is actually looking to the west, as the South Korean control zone actually forms a salient surrounded by North Korean territory.
The small white stakes here indicate the MDL, or Military Demarcation Line. Obviously, this is taken from the south, looking roughly north by northwest. I can only imagine how many landmines are scattered throughtout the area comprising this shot.
The blue building is an unmanned post near the site of the Axe Murder Incident of 1976. Previous to this, ROK, US, and DPRK soldiers could move and actually interact with each other to a certain extent throughout the JSA, which is hard to believe now. To the right of the post you can make out the South Korean side of the “Bridge of No Return.” We got back onto the bus and drove down, then quickly turned around.
In 1953 there were some prisoner exchanges between the two countries, and soldiers had to choose which side of the bridge they wanted to get off on. For obvious reasons, the decision was final. The last prisoners to cross the bridge were the crew of the Pueblo in 1968, an American spy ship captured by North Korea. The bus was moving fairly quickly, so I was happy to get this shot out the window as we headed back to the relative safety of Camp Bonifas.
