Going to the JSA and DMZ in Korea
Last weekend I explored the JSA and DMZ in Korea, a strip of land in-between two countries that have technically been at war for more than 60 years. There is so much to say about this area between North and South Korea, and it was fascinating to learn about and witness the most militarized demilitarized zone in the world.
A (not so) Lil History
Pre-Japanese Invasion
Modern Korean history has been filled with conflict, but prior to the Japanese invasion of 1910, the Korean peninsula experienced peace and prosperity for almost 2,000 years. It had one of the highest standards of living in East Asia and had significant influence on technological and language development throughout the world.
Post-Japanese Invasion
But then things started to get bad… Days before Japan’s defeat in World War II (1945), the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and invaded the Japan-controlled Korean peninsula. Although the Allied forces (including the US) agreed to the Soviet declaration of war, the US didn’t like the idea of a totally Soviet controlled Korean peninsula. The US told the Soviets to stop their advances at the 38th parallel (pretty much halfway down the peninsula), and surprisingly they did. The Soviets set up camp in the north, and the US set up camp in the south.
Soviet and American Occupation
There was a crazy power vacuum in Korea because it had been under foreign rule for three decades. With no established Korean political system or societal model to follow during the rebuilding, the two occupying countries began setting up political systems that mirrored their own: Americans supported anti-communism, democratic Koreans. They set up an elections system with the help of the United Nations. Soviets appointed Korean communists into positions of power. State power was centralized, society was collective.
Handing Over Local Control
International efforts were made to unify the peninsula, but no course of action was agreed upon by all parties. After unification negotiations repeatedly failed, the South elected their first president, Syngman Rhee and the North (really the Soviets) declared Kim Il-sung the Prime Minister. Soviet occupation forces left the North in 1948 and US forces left the South the following year.
The Korean War
But US forces didn’t leave for long. Not long after their withdrawal, the North (really the Soviets) invaded the South in 1950. The north took control of most of the peninsula, including the capital, Seoul. They didn’t think the US would come back, but they did, along with UN forces. So started the Korean War. The South pushed the North back. Eventually, a line emerged where neither side was budging.
This line (the Demilitarized Zone or DMZ) was officially established in 1953 by the Armistice Agreement made between North Korea, China and the United Nations. South Korea refused the agreement because they held out hope for reunification and wouldn’t sign anything that officially separated the two Korea regions. This agreement remains in place today.
Fun Fact: The Korean War never officially ended. The Armistice Agreement established the DMZ and included a ceasefire but didn’t declare that the war was over. No other declaration or agreement ending the war was signed, so the war technically continues.
The JSA and DMZ
The JSA and DMZ are two different things:
The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 4 km wide strip of land that runs coast to coast across the middle of the Korean peninsula. Although the name implies that it is not militarized, it is actually one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. Soldiers from each side regularly patrol the border, heavily armed and ready to attack if prompted, or even unprompted.
The Joint Securities Area (JSA) is a small complex on the border of North and South Korea where meetings and negotiations take place. It’s where South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in shook hands with Kim Jong-il a few months ago. It’s where the North Korean defector, just a few months ago, tried to run to the South and got shot multiple times by northern forces before being dragged to safety by southern forces.
The JSA used to actually be a joint operation between North and South Korea. Both countries had soldiers moving around the facility. This happened with relatively little disturbance, though the environment was extremely tense. But this isn’t the case anymore. One day, southern soldiers were doing routine tree maintenance. Then, some North Korean soldiers brutally attacked and killed two of them. This is known as the Ax Massacre and ended the joint operation of the JSA. Today, no soldiers can cross the border, no exception.
Why Would You Want to Go There?
The DMZ is a heavily armed area bumped up against a hermit country that has arrested (and killed) foreigners for taking down a poster or speaking out against it’s Supreme Leader. A country that has committed unspeakable human rights atrocities against its own people. What’s the draw?
I don’t really have a good answer, other than curiosity. There is no other place like this in the world. There is something so (disturbingly) intriguing about North Korea, and to see it, to see the North Korean soldiers, to stand in North Korea, even for a moment and under UN troop supervision, was intriguing to me.
It’s definitely a weird experience. The DMZ is a heavily militarized zone and the JSA is protected by American and South Korean soldiers serving under the UN. There are multiple other countries that have military houses and soldiers there. Yet, everyday there are hundreds of tourists that roll through in their big buses to grab a peek at the hermit country to the north.
Getting to the JSA and DMZ
As a civilian, you can’t just go to the DMZ, you need to be part of a tour. It isn’t hard to find one for the sights around the DMZ, but if you want to go to the JSA, the actual border, you have to use one of the few state-certified touring companies.
I used Cosmojin Tour and would definitely recommend them. For a list of the JSA tour companies click here. The tours can be cancelled last minute. The first tour I was scheduled for was cancelled due to military meetings. And they stopped the tours completely for a few months surrounding the Trump and Kim Jong-il meeting earlier this year.
From Seoul, we drove along a river that stretches the whole peninsula. On either side of the river are barbed wire fences and camouflaged guard posts that increase in size and frequency the closer we get to the border. The North Korean military has tried to use the river to send troops to the south.
It was about an hour drive until we reached the first check point. This is as far as a regular citizen can get on their own. It’s manned by really young looking South Korean troops. They check to make sure the company is legit and let us through. This is one of three check points we’ll go through before getting to the border.
Inside the DMZ
The second check point is to enter the DMZ. A Korean soldier came on the bus and checked our passports. He counted how many of us were on there and we were on our way. Driving through the DMZ was beautiful. Green, lush, mountainous landscape with rice fields and crops. Crops? Yes, people live in the DMZ.
The village of Taesung is the only civilian inhabited area inside the DMZ. The residents technically aren’t governed by South Korea, but they live under strict curfews and rules: they can leave the DMZ but must be back by 10 p.m. and they must be in their homes with doors locked by midnight. The government subsidizes their crops, because what other work could they do there? There are no other jobs, no companies to work for.
You can only live there if your family lived there before the war. Women can marry into the village, but men can't. The men living in Taesung are excempt from the compulsory military duty required for all Korean men and marrying into the village would be a way to avoid serving. So, it’s not allowed.
Stop 1: The Joint Security Area (JSA)
About 20 minutes after entering the DMZ, weaving through barriers and over bridges, the bus stopped in front of a heavily barbed wire gate. I saw a water tower that says, “Joint Security Area: In Front of Them All,” the motto of the UN Police Force tasked with monitoring the JSA.
Getting through security
An American soldier with a big, black and white UN Police Force badge wrapped around his arm came on the bus. He checked our passports (surprisingly not so thoroughly) and welcomed us to the JSA. It’s a bit strange. I couldn’t help but think what a good gig this guy got compared to some of his comrades who are in battle.
He asked us three questions:
1) Are you under the influence of drugs or alcohol?
2) Do you have any weapons?
3) Does anyone plan to defect to North Korea?
The third one got a laugh from the group, but he wasn’t laughing. Stone faced with his gun on his hip and dark shades covering his eyes.
Welcome Center & Briefing
He rode with us to the JSA Welcome Center. Ya, this is weird too, a welcome center for the Joint Securities Area between two countries that are still technically at war. We sat down in a lecture style auditorium and received a power point presentation about the DMZ. It’s super well done, straight to the point and informative.
After we signed the paper saying the UN isn’t responsible for anything that happens at the border, we hopped on a military bus and our military buddy escorted us to the JSA, the militarized building complex at the border of North and South Korea.
Around the JSA
Getting off the bus we formed 2 single file lines and entered Freedom House, a large, modern building. South Korean soldiers with the same UN arm badges stood like statues, completely still, at each windowed entrance. Posed with their arms to their sides, hands in fists, ready to respond at any moment.
As we walked to the back of Freedom House, nearing the Military Armistice Commission Conference Rooms, the blue buildings that straddle the border of north and south, we were instructed not to take pictures until given permission. Not to point to the North. Not to look too long at the North’s buildings just across the border. Not to make any sudden movements or noises.
About five UN soldiers, a mix of American and South Korean, stood next to and in between the blue buildings, staring directly at the North. Watching for any movement, ready, poised to react.
The number of binoculars affixed to the balconies and CCTV cameras plastered all around are too many to count. Pointing in all directions, and surely matched by the north. Once we could take pictures, we were restricted to only the buildings in front of us, not Freedom House, not the bright blue building to our right or the satellite tower to our left.
The building directly across from us was North Korea. Inside, northern soldiers were doing who knows what. Thinking who knows what. Probably watching us.
Standing in North Korea
In our single file line, we walked into Military Armistice Commission Conference Room #2. This room is still used for negotiations between the two countries. Inside the room were two UN military police: one standing in the South, one standing in the North. It’s filled with dark brown, glossy wood tables and black leather chairs. Small windows on each side and a door opening to the North and one to the South.
The room sits in both the north and south. Standing on the other side of the room means you are standing in North Korea.
The North also has tours of the Conference Room, though very rarely. When the South is using it, they lock the door to the north, and when the north is using it, they lock the door to the south. It’s a shared room; first come, first serve. They don’t communicate their tourist schedules. Luckily, the room was available when I went.
Leaving the JSA, the UN military police escorted us back to the Welcome Center and we were off.
Stop 2: The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
Since the beginning of the Korean war, North Korea has built an unknown number of tunnels to gain covert access to South Korea and presumably attack Seoul. The tunnels were made with dynamite and chisels. They’re big enough for 30,000 Northern soldiers to walk through each hour and reach hundreds of meters into the south. Only four of those tunnels have been found, but it’s thought there are more.
Only 44km (27 miles) from Seoul, the 3rd tunnel was discovered when southern soldiers detected an underground explosion in 1978. The tunnel is 1.6 km (1 mile) long and about 73 meters (240 ft) below ground. The North denies they made this or any of the tunnels.
It’s a steep decline going down to the tunnel and a steep incline coming back out. Once in the tunnel, it’s dark and cold. Some of the tunnel is low, so everyone has to wear a helmet. They warned us that if we had asthma, high blood pressure, heart problems or claustrophobia, we should hang back. There are three separate blockades at the end of the tunnel to keep the north out. Tourists can get a little more than a kilometer (less than a mile) from the northern border before hitting the first blockade and having to turn back.
Pictures of the tunnel were not allowed.
Stop 3: Dora Observatory
Peeping through affixed binoculars, visitors can check out North Korea and some of its nearby sights, including Gaeseong, a now abandoned factory operated by the south that employed northern civilians; Kijong-dong, also known as Propoganda Village, built to show how good life was in the north and to lure people from the south over the border; a huge Kim Il-sung statue; and a giant flagpole with the North Korean flag waving in the wind.
Stop 4: Dorasan Station
Dorasan is the last train station going north. Not far from the JSA and DMZ, it was first used in December 2007 to bring supplies from the south to the Gaeseong factory in the north, then bring finished items back down south.
But in December 2008, after only one year of operation, the North closed the border crossing because of what they called “confrontational policy.” At the time, South Korea elected a more conservative government and reduced economic and humanitarian support for their neighbors to the north.
Anyone can come to Dorasan, you don't have to be on a tour of the JSA and DMZ. There is one train per day to and from Seoul. But once you get to Dorasan, there isn’t much to do. There aren’t taxis, no hotels, restaurants, stores, coffee shops, nothing.
The $600 million endeavor resulted in a state of the art, beautiful building that isn’t used for anything other than a tourist attraction. A few workers sit behind the counter where visitors can buy a "train ticket" for ₩1,000 ($1) and go to the tracks.
Stop 5: Imjingak Park
Imjingak Park is 7 km from the border and was built in 1973 with the hope of reunification. It’s where Freedom Bridge crosses over the Imjin river, where North Koreans came over after the Armistice Agreement was signed pausing the Korean War. There's a lot of memorial pictures, flags and ribbons lining the gates leading up to the bridge. There’s part of a train line and train that was destroyed during the war, littered with bullet holes.
Also at Imjinpak Park, is a children’s amusement park complete with kiddie roller coasters, a ferris wheel, bright flashy lights and games. Since you don’t have to go through the JSA and DMZ checkpoints to get there, Imjinpak Park is a popular place for families to spend a day and hosts the annual DMZ Peace Music Festival.
Reunification is the Goal
Everywhere I went throughout the JSA and DMZ, I heard the hopeful talk of reunification. The tour leader spoke only about reunification, he didn’t talk negatively about the north. He didn’t rewrite history, he was very clear about the invasions, the violence and the espionage committed by the north, but he still spoke very hopefully of eventual reunification.
During the 3rd tunnel movie, as they were describing how the south secretly dug tunnels to invade Seoul, the takeaway was all about reunification. The South’s actions also show that they always give the north the benefit of the doubt. The idea that the JSA was a place where northern and southern soldiers cohabited in the same space seemed absurd. But the south allowed it, and it didn’t end well (see the Axe Massacre mentioned above).
At the train station, just above the pictures of smiling Jae-in Moon and Kim Jong-il shaking hands, was a wishful map showing a train line going from the southern tip of Korea all the way up the peninsula, connecting to the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
After everything the north has done, the south still sees them as family; mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters that were torn away from each other when outside forces decided to separate the peninsula into two separate countries. I don’t think the same sentiment is as persistent in the north, but the people in the south want reunification, and will sacrifice, give in, and do whatever they need to make that happen.
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