Bus tour to the Demilitarised Zone between South and North Korea. I booked a tour run by the United Services Organisation as soon as we arrived in Korea, as I had read that this was the only tour that went to the Joint Security Area. This was a good move as the JSA was the highlight of the trip.
First stop was the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel, one of four known attempts by the North Koreans to tunnel under the DMZ. Photography was quite limited in this area, and no photos were allowed in the tunnel. To get to the North Korean tunnel you walked down the interception tunnel dug by the South, at quite a steep angle, for 360 metres. You could then walk 170 metres along the 3rd tunnel. The interception tunnel was wide enough to walk upright, but the 3rd tunnel required us to walk hunched over (and wear hard hats).
Then to Dora observation point where you can see out over North Korea, and the “peace village” they have inside the DMZ. The South also have a peace village – theirs actually has people living in it. We saw no signs of people on the North side at all, and no vehicles on any of the roads.
We had a brief stop at Dorsan train station. This was constructed in 2002 in anticipation of regular rail travel between the South and the North. It has never been used, but remains ready. We paid 50 cents for a rail ticket to go onto the platform.
We stopped for lunch at the transit point where South Koreans cross to work in the joint industrial area just inside the North Korean side of the border. This was not very interesting, and we probably would have preferred more time at the observatory and railway, which were both short stops.
We did however get offered to try some alcoholic beverages infused with wasps. We declined.
After lunch we were taken to Camp Bonifas, the US/Korean military base, and handed over to the US Army to complete the tour, which was to the JSA. There was quite an extensive security briefing, and we were given detailed instructions on what to do (walk single file, only stand in designated areas etc) and not to do (take pictures, point at the North Korean soldiers, defect etc).
There was a lone North Korean soldier (“Bob”) watching us, and about a dozen US and Korean soldiers guarding us. We were allowed inside the negotiation hut, and briefly crossed to the North side of the table. The whole environment was surreal. We also stopped for a much closer look at the North’s peace village with its 160 metre flag pole (3rd largest in the world).
This will probably be the last post of the trip. We are flying home tomorrow. Celebrated our last night in Korea with a a dinner of shellfish. The trip has been wholly memorable, and the DMZ tour was an excellent way to round it off.