More: Why the overwhelming majority of North Korean defectors are women. More: Nikki Haley, U. Ambassador to U. More: South Korea broadcasts defector's daring escape 'in great detail' on loudspeakers. For such a relatively open border area, the recent high-stakes escape by the North Korean soldier was only the third time someone defected at the truce village, with soldiers also crossing in and It marked the fourth time in the past three years that a North Korean soldier has escaped inside the DMZ.
The Joint Security Area has been the site of several dramatic events over the decades since the war ended with a truce but not a peace agreement. Both sides exchanged tens of thousands of prisoners after the war over a crossing known as the Bridge of No Return.
In , a Soviet interpreter visiting from the North ran across the military demarcation line, drawing North Korean soldiers across in pursuit. A firefight ensued, killing three North Koreans and one South Korean soldier. While North and South Korea share this border, the two countries have different immigration and travel policies. The North is notorious for its difficult restrictions on travel, so venturing fully inside North Korea will need additional visa arrangements and paperwork.
What you can do, however, is cross the Military Demarcation Line which is the actual border between the two countries. In this case, you will technically be on North Korean territory.
You may not know this about the Demilitarized Zone in Korea, but aside from being a key military point, the geographical region itself is incredibly biodiverse! There have been sightings of the endangered Siberian tiger within the zone.
While most visitors flock here to learn about history and politics, there are nature-enthusiasts who are enticed by the possibility of spotting the rare cat. During the Korean War, a lot of farmland was abandoned due to the military conflict, so nature took over. The DMZ in Korea is now the home to numerous species of exotic birds as well, including white-naped and red-crowned cranes and the Amur leopard. The reason for these rules is that this is a visit to a highly important geopolitical area and by dressing appropriately, you show respect.
Furthermore, there have been attempts to use photos of casually dressed tourists in order to spread propaganda in North Korea by suggestion that the rest of the world is poor.
If visiting the JSA , you will not be allowed in with ripped jeans, tank tops, sleeveless shirts, or T-shirts without a collar. Shorts and miniskirts are also a no-no. Refrain from wearing any clothing that may have military print on it, or any attire that shows a national flag or spells out nationality. Now, on the topic of what you can wear to the JSA — you are more than welcome to wear comfortable attire, such as shirts, blouses, slacks, jeans, a knee-length dress with a cardigan or long sleeves.
For shoes, you can choose loafers, moccasins, or dressier sneakers, but stay away from sandals. North Korea is notorious for its secrecy and tight travel restrictions. During the Korean War, many families were separated from loved ones who are now allowed to reunite at Mount Kumgang which is a resort close to the shared border.
In January , CNN reported that North Korea is considering new rules that would let their neighbors travel independently for tourism. That plan, however, is still in development. Due to safety policies, you need to be mindful of where you can and can not take photos at the DMZ in Korea.
If visiting the JSA, you will be given a waiver to sign upon entering the DMZ which will include instructions on photography. The waiver also states that you bear responsibility for yourself during the tour in case of an injury, accident, or even death.
Legally, the paperwork needs to convey these things but this should not worry you because you will be accompanied by a tour guide who has led these groups hundreds of times. After all, this is the number 1 rated activity in South Korea! The Third Infiltration Tunnel is an area that explicitly prohibits taking photos. In fact, you will be asked to leave your phone and camera in a locker during your visit, free of charge. The other restriction to bear in mind is to never, under any circumstance take photos of the North Korean soldiers which is also prohibited.
Otherwise, unless advised against, you are free to take photos inside the DMZ. Is this a fashion statement? The man then moved along a road undetected for more than 5km three miles until His ninth appearance on a CCTV camera at this point led troops to report his presence. The military found him at The report said he had been looking for civilians to turn himself in to, as he feared soldiers might return him to the North.
Surveillance cameras spotted the man several times between and , with alarms going off twice. No action was taken. Military CCTVs caught the man another three times at about A JCS official told Yonhap that the soldier in charge of coastal surveillance equipment was making adjustments at the time and thought the alarms were a system error.
Some have queried whether the man, a civilian working in the fishing industry, had swum from North Korea as claimed, given the cold winter conditions. There was speculation that he could have made some of the journey by boat instead. However, the JCS said it believed the man had swum over, saying his wetsuit was in good condition and the tide would have helped. Colourful traditional housing in Kaesong. Taken from the bus window as we pass through.
With a keen eye, the towering flagpoles of both North and South Korea can be seen in the distance less than four kilometres apart, the width of the DMZ splitting each nation. We embrace yet another and final, yay!
My first thought after seeing this mural was the irony in that we were standing aside a 4km wide, km long minefield purely designed to keep the North and South of Korea away from each other.
Now that we are here, there are three sections of the DMZ which I want to make clear, mainly because they confused me initially. I might not be the only one. It exists as a 4km wide buffer between both Koreas. This is the actual political border. Anyway, in this staging area of our arrival, we have to ditch the bus.
I kid you not. Soliciting tourists is a universal language, folks. Among other things…. Kim Jong-Un may be eating extra lobster tail this week thanks to that 10 euros. But with the Kaesong Industrial Region nearby I felt somewhat less guilty. Well, apparently Ginseng is used in Korea for impotence.
Ahh, the International Friendship Exhibition incident , and now this. Note how the frame is thicker at the top so that the leaders are always looking down upon you. These stock portraits are in every household and business. As we waited for authorisation, it suddenly dawns on me — could I get cell phone signal here? We are right on the border…surely South Korean tower coverage reaches. My iPhone has been on flight mode since boarding the plane in China to Pyongyang because well, as we know, North Korea is a communicative black spot.
Sure enough, disabling flight mode showed a two-bar signal to a South Korean cell carrier and I instantly received an automated roaming SMS and one I was sent days earlier. Or something equally ridiculous along those lines. Alright, with the bus searched and cleared of nefarious products, we are lined up and marched single file through the gate into the DMZ itself.
The path we take is set below ground level, built up on both sides by brick, it was one-way and only wide enough for the bus and driving within it made me feel like a rat up a drainpipe. Atop of these girders sit huge bulk blocks of stone and the gaps between are filled in by barbed wire and electric fencing. Behind it on both sides appeared peaceful — lush, long green grass where nature has reclaimed land and is devoid of anything, not even any crops.
The bus currently sit sandwiched between two desolate fields that form just a small section of the approximate 3 million landmines present across the entire DMZ.
Oh and those stone blocks? Those are tank traps, our guides acknowledge them to be rigged with explosives and a necessary evil to prevent military pressure bypassing the fields and streamlining through this paved gateway into North Korea. The result is a set of four known infiltration tunnels North Korea dug underneath as invasion paths into South Korea, El Chapo over there in Mexico may have gotten some inspiration here from Kim Il-Sung.
From the South side on a DMZ tour, you even get the chance to go into one. From the North? Their existence is not acknowledged. Guides have never heard of them. Halfway into the DMZ, we make a stop. This is the actual location of the late Panmunjom village — there is now nothing left. A single military outpost has been erected, pruned gardens line the entrance, and two buildings sit within the vicinity.
One being the Ne gotiation Hall where peace talks were held during the war the original table exists here — and the other, the now North Korean Peace Museum , which is where the Korean Armistice Agreement was finally signed and history was made. Something interesting to note in the image above — see the giant North Korean flag towering in the centre?
Unfortunately, North Korea also used that village right up until recently to blast propaganda at the South twenty hours a day, droning away to tired officers to jump the border and enjoy heaven and luxury in the North. Unsurprisingly it had little effect. We first checked out the negotiation hall. On the outside, a sign denotes when Kim Jong-Il first visited this location.
It was built for this purpose only and it remains. Ah, politics. This becomes clearer at the museum next. The North Korea Peace Museum is one room containing three tables. The guides stress they are all the originals, still exactly as left since with the addition of the armistice agreements and flags within glass casings, of course.
Walls inside the museum were lined with photography. But it was chronological. Kim Jong-Il also has his own wall dedicated to the visit he made, shown in bright colour photography. This visit by the Supreme Leader is recorded by date and time and hits you in the face as you walk in the door. Exhibits of physical items or evidence as the guides will describe them cluttered the perimeter of the room below the photos and were filled with American and South Korean war materials.
North Korea is presented as the victim and victor under the wise guidance of Kim Il-Sung. The American imperialists, who broke out provoked the war in Chosun Korea on the 25th June , surrendered on their knees in front of all the heroic North Koreans and signed here the armistice on the 27th July Another metres or so and we were at the JSA.
But not before the bus almost broke down as we pig-rooted our way up the incline preceding it. This is the large white building that faces you if you were visiting the JSA from the South Korean side. Both South Korean and American guides previously enjoyed toying with tourists by telling them this building was a farce, a fake front just like a movie prop. Upon disembarking, we are instructed to walk single file once again. Serene really. Based on the guides mannerisms, this was obviously an important monument.
Etched into the stone in bright gold is his final autograph scraped from his last endorsed document on the 7th of July, The document?
You know the drill. Of course.
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