Joint Security Area: Panmunjeom

Today we visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) between South Korea and North Korea. It is the DMZ, or the de-militarized zone. There were South Korean officers everywhere, and we got to look over to North Korea. It was a reminder to me of how arbitrary geographical boundaries are, and how the landscape was exactly the same on one "side" as on the other. Very much like the separation between India and Pakistan - both sides of the border look exactly the same, and ethnically, the people come from the same background. Here are several pictures of the area. Below are the United Nations flags - countries who help rule the JSA. Under that is the entry building, where we had to sign a statement that included these rules:

"3. When you arrive at the conference room, DO NOT TOUCH any equipment such as microphones or flags belonging to the communist side

4. DO NOT SPEAK with, make any gesture toward or in any way (including pointing or waving), approach, or respond to personnel from the other side.

5. You can wear casual clothes, but it is prohibited to wear blue jeans, sandals, shorts, short pants, short skirts, sleeveless skirts, shirts without collars, excessively exposing clothes, etc. Shaggy or unkempt hair is not allowed either."

SO WEIRD! I can't believe this is our world...







Below is a picture of the spot where the ax-murder occured in 1976, when a group of United Nations officers attempted to trim a tree with an ax, and North Korean officers attacked and ended up killing two American officers with the ax. I had never heard about this, and found the whole story really shocking. Below that is the train going from South Korea into North Korea, and a picture of postings on the fence of the train tracks with cards and posters welcoming this idea of linking the two parts of Korea.





Below is a picture of a north Korean building, and all of the security (both north and south Korean) outside. Pretty weird experience to be there, all together.



I learned a lot more about North Korea today. All in all, a surreal experience. I kept on thinking of my grandfathers and great uncles, who were the age of the South Korean officers during WWII, traveling to far away places and serving in the military. I also thought of all of the American soldiers in the Middle East right now. I don't think I had ever seen so many military personnel in person before today.