7:15am. ~60km from the Military Demarcation Line. The three alarms that I set for this morning blaze into action. Only one is necessary, as I am still waking up early due to my New Year's time change. I shower and get ready to go.
9:00am. ~45km from the MDL. I arrive with ten minutes to spare and was surprised to be one of the first on the Adventure Korea bus. We would wait twenty minutes there and pick up more people at another stop to the north.
11:00am. 3km from the MDL. We stop at Imjingak, the last place civilians can travel without registering with the military. There is a theme park, which is odd, and a train bridge into the DMZ, but there's not much to see here. I buy some North Korean currency - I think I now have more than the average North Korean. (Pic to left: me with North Korean money and random Canadian.)
11:45am. 2.5km. We pass over the hopefully named "Unification Bridge" into the less-so "Zone of Civilian Control". There is a village here, whose residents continue to live in the land of their ancestors, and each make the equivalent of CAD $100,000 a year from their goods and the government subsidies. We stop to take lunch. Some of the group get a little silly in the snow, especially the group from South Africa for whom this was the first snow they had ever seen.
1:00pm. 820m. We arrive at the "third tunnel": the Southern side of the third known infiltration tunnel under the De-Militarized Zone. The DMZ was established around an armistice line known as the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and generally extends two kilometres in both directions. We are just south of the Southern Limit Line of the DMZ, so either the tourist maps are lying about the distance or the DMZ is narrower than usual here.
Before descending into the tunnel, we are shown a propaganda video about the DMZ. This would happen once again on the trip, and I was put off--it felt like the South Koreans were trying too hard to claim moral justification for their fight against an aggressive North.
I know where I stand in this Civil War, thanks, and don't need agitprop that felt like it should come from the North.
1:30pm. 435m. We descended what seemed an interminable tunnel of very steep grade. This was not the original tunnel blasted by the North, but the tourist tunnel. My camera was left hesitantly in a locker upstairs; no photography in the tunnel. I look down the real tunnel and realize I will now have to stoop the whole way through.
1:40pm. 170m. We reach the barrier to civilian passage, which is claimed to be only 170m from the Military Demarcation Line. For now, that's as close as I'll get to North Korea. I don't like the cramped tunnel, or the massive exertion it takes to get back up the steep passage, but it's worth it.
2:30pm. 1200m. Feeling good to be above-ground. We arrive at Dorasan Station, the last station. Since it's in the Zone of Civilian Control, it's not currently used, but it's a real testament to the hopes of the Koreans: a modern, fully equipped and large train station complete with waiting chairs, multiple platforms and customs inspection equipment. It looks like every other modern train station in Korea, minus the hurried commuters.
There were a few Korean soldiers standing guard at the station, and I was reminded of a detail about the South Korean army: it's predominantly made of young, conscripted men serving their two-year term. My mental image of service members is weathered and, well, older, so it's always a little jarring to see the fresh faced recruits under their tan helmets.
3:15pm. 1600m. We were scheduled to go to Dora Observatory, but it was closed to civilians due to the resumption of propaganda broadcasts by
... the South! Instead, we bussed to Unification Observatory (starting to see a theme here?), which overlooks the meeting of the Han River, flowing North from Seoul with the Imjin river, flowing West.
Due to the snowy weather, it wasn't the greatest day to be at a North Korean observatory: the view was limited and the North Koreans were inside whatever shelter they have. It was still cool to be looking at North Korea. I did some spying through the binoculars and some nature photography, but was less interested in the museum-like display of North Korean goods and artifacts on show.
4:45pm. 2km from the MDL and gaining. The Adventure Korea bus was slogging through the snowy streets and heavy traffic back to Seoul. I had visited the DMZ. Overall, I was somewhat underwhelmed, though in retrospect that's not surprising. The DMZ is the most militarized border in the world and has seen many skirmishes in the last 60 years, so obviously they keep the tourists away from the potentially dangerous places. Because of this, it felt more like a museum-piece showing an old, dead war than a living, manned conflict zone: even the points only hundreds of metres away from the zone were well-staffed and gift-shopped tourist attractions.
But I have the bragging rights, so I'm happy.
While I had hoped that the conclusion of a year in a strange, new country should produce some profound inner knowledge to share, it has so far eluded me. Perhaps I have been too busy with the preparations for going home. Perhaps I have unconsciously assimilated some profound new understanding of the world which I will only be able to express upon distance and more reflection. And perhaps it is enough to say that Korea has become familiar, almost home, and I no longer really think twice about living here.
