This is the view along the highway driving to the border. This fence stretches from coast to coast. Most of the building are not manned, its just for intimidation.
This was at our briefing, being told all the things we should not do, such as any gestures. Apparently the North Koreans take videos and photos of everyone who visits and uses it in their propaganda. We then signed our lives away in case anything should happen.
My official visitors security badge to the Joint Security Area or Panmunjom.
The third most dangerous golf course in the world. Its only one hole. Apparently it used to be number one but now there's some courses in the Middle East where the golf carts have AK's mounted onto them.
Me standing in North Korea. The border actually runs directly through this building. This is where peace talks and various treaties have been signed. This guard is South Korean and guards the door behind him. On the other side are North Koreans. Apparently, in the past there were incidents where the North Koreans opened the door and pulled guards and tourists through and then beat them up. Now, they have locks on both sides of both doors. When UN people are inside the North side's door is locked inside and vise versa when the North is inside. They give tours as well for North Koreans to come to the DMZ.
The border runs through these blue buildings. All blue buildings belong to the UN and tan buildings belong to North Korea. We were in the building on the left. You can see the guard standing half behind the building. It's to present less of a target, but any decent soldier would be able to hit him anyway. All guards here must be at least 6 feet tall so they look more intimidating. Also, they have ball bearings in the cuffs of their pants so it sounds like a big army is coming when they walk. The big building in the back is the North Koreans main building. Behind me was a similar one belonging to the UN.
Here is a North Korean watching us from the steps of that building with binoculars. There were a few others we could see, too. Our American Army tour guide had nicknames for each one like Bob and Chuck. This one was KPA Bill.
This was at a the Dora Observatory, a briefing center where you can view North Korea. I don't know what 'Nice One!' says about the DMZ.
The Propaganda Village, or Kijong-dong, is on the north side of the border. No one actually lives there anymore, and the buildings have no glass in the windows. The flag tower used to be smaller, but then South Korea put up a big flag, so they had to make a bigger one. This flag is 31 feet and weighs 600lbs! Sounds like someone has insecurity issues! If there's heavy rain they have to lower the flag because it would rip under its own wet weight.
This is the Bridge of No Return. It was used after the war to return prisoners taken by both sides. It was also the site of the infamous 'Axe Murder Incident' in 1976. Some American UN soldiers and South Korean soldiers had been sent to chop down a tree that was blocking the view from their observation tower. The North Koreans didn't want the tree cut down so they attacked the soldiers with axes. The UN and Korean soldiers didn't have guns because of JSA rules so they couldn't defend themselves and the North Koreans grabbed the axes they were using to cut down the tree. The fight only lasted about 30 seconds and 2 American UN soldiers were killed. A week later the UN side went back under 'Operation Paul Bunyan' and cut down the tree with hundreds of soldiers present as well as air and sea support. A tree almost started World War III.
We also went down the 3rd Tunnel. It was discovered in 1978 and could move 30,000 North Korean soldiers into the south in an hour. Its a pretty steep tunnel. Going down wasn't bad, but those 200m coming back up sucked. We had to wear hard hats to protect our heads... for me the low roof was no problem.
