Traveling to North Korea

Last Saturday, during a visit from Laura and John, we decided to take a tour of our neighbors to the north.  For those of you who may be concerned, we went on a tour that was officially run in accordance with the Joint Security Area (the US and South Korean military run this area together).  We were fully protected by soldiers, and there are tours from both sides almost every day.  Here is some of our protection.

ROK (South Korean) soldier in a modified taekwondo position

The door behind the soldier leads to North Korea.  This guy was tensed and did not move at all the whole time we were in this room.  It was amazing!  Ok, now that you know we were safe, let me start from the beginning of our tour.
We drove about an hour north of Seoul to get to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  To even get close to the DMZ you have to first pass through a checkpoint.  We picked up a couple of US soldiers there.  They briefed us on this history of the Korean War and the area where talks are held.  Then we were able to enter the DMZ.  We had our passports checked at almost every opportunity. 
The DMZ is very beautiful.  Besides the barbed wire and the mine fields, there is not very much built up in it.  If there are still tigers in Korea, they would be there.  There is also a little villages in the DMZ.  The people there do not have to pay taxes and the men do not have to do military service.  The only stipulations are that only women can join the village from the outside.  They have a curfew and some of the fields can only be tended with an armed guard.  The people think its worth living there, and they do get about $85,000 a year tax free.
The first stop was the panmunjon area.  It is where talks are held.  This was the point we could just go over the line in a building and technically be in North Korea.  It was like being in a shark tank and waiting for the sharks to come.  Here is what it looked like:

North Korea.  We went in the blue building on the left.  You can see the line where the color of the gravel changes, and there is a North Korean soldier on the steps.

 This is where the ROK soldiers were standing for protection.  You can't see many North Korean soldiers because they are only there when there are tours on that side.

The next stop was a couple of observation towers.  It was like looking over the edge of the world.  There weren't many trees and there was a large empty town built on the other side to pretend to be just like the one on the South Korean side.  It was built to be fake, a lot of the windows and doors are painted on the buildings.  They also built the largest flag pole in the world in the fake village to be taller than the flag pole on the South Korean side.  I have pictures, but it was a foggy day so you can't see much but the giant flagpole.

Then we went to the last station in South Korea.  It is a huge, modern station that was built with donated money from hopeful South Koreans that someday it will be used to travel from South Korea all the way to Europe. 

The last stop of the tour was a tunnel that the North Koreans had dug under the border.  They never broke through the top, so you have to walk down a steep tunnel into it.  Its hard to stand up straight in it.  They had also painted coal on the walls to say that is was a coal mine, but it rubs right off.  You could walk along it (trying not to bump your head) until you get to the first of three walls built in defense.

It was all very interesting.  Especially the multiple souvenir shops where you can buy North Korean wine, DMZ t-shirts, and lego tanks.  They haven't had any incidents there for 50 years, and they never even stopped the tours for the recent unrest.  It is all very usual and normal for tours to take place at the border, and that was the strangest thing of all.

Cute ROK soldiers.