DMZ - DEMILITARIZED ZONE, KOREA

I went on the USO DMZ tour a few weeks ago with Andrew & Dave. We took the early morning subway to Camp Kim, a US military base located in Samgakji, Seoul, South Korea. The tour bus rode the "Freedom or Unification Highway" and took us to Camp Bonifas. Bonifas was a victim in the Axe murders in 1976, when a US-ROK tree-trimming exercise went wrong. The US and ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers were unarmed and went to trim a tree near Check Point 3, and were ambushed by North Korean soldiers wielding axes. We saw the Military Armistice Commission building and the "Bridge of No Return", where at the end of the Korean War, POW's were allowed to cross over. In the distance, we looked into North Korea's Propaganda Village. It's a small apartment complex development that was uninhabited until opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2004. We also visited the Third Tunnel that was discovered by South Koreans in October 1978. There were 4 infiltration tunnels dug under the DMZ by North Korea, the third was said to be a "coal mine" by officals in North Korea. The tunnel was dug through granite rock, the walls of the tunnel were painted black to look like coal, though none was found in these North-South underground throughways. South Korea build a water reservoir dividing the 3rd tunnel from North Korea, there a series of concrete walls dividing the countries today. There was an eerie silence along the border we visited. The untaxed, sprawling rice farms along the southside, generate 70 Billion Won (75,000,000 USD/annum) were maintained by direct decendants of their Korean families. They live in simplicity, although they have a 9:00pm curfew, and must be present on the farms 240/365 days of the year. The profile of traditional Korean farmers is probably propaganda to the visiting North Koreans, the few who actually do tours on the north side. It was an interesting site, and a definite reminder that these sides are still divided along the 38th Parallel. Though few North Korean soldiers were visible spying on us (from watch towers), knowing that more than 1,000,000 soldiers were posted within an hour into North Korea is chilling. The DMZ is 248 km/155 miles long and approximately 4 km/2.5 miles wide, and is reportedly the most heavily armed border in the world. I won't visit the area again, though, it gave a better perspective while living in the southern half of the divided country.