Korean War Stuff + DMZ

Today was quite the long day. I spent about 40 minutes within a few feet from and about 5 minutes in North Korea this afternoon!

We had to be at Lotte Hotel by 9:30 AM to check-in with our tour group, which meant we had to leave the dorm by 8:30 or so if we wanted to play it safe. I set my alarm for 7:30AM thinking rather optimistically that I’d wake up, shower, do my makeup, and be ready to leave by 8:30. I’ve learned that, personally, being optimistic in situations involving waking up early is quite foolish, since I have this tendency to either hit snooze or just turn off my alarm when I’m in the delirious state of just being woken up after 4 hours of sleep (which is basically a nap amirite). So I woke up when my alarm went off and scoffed at my stupidity before going to sleep that I’d ever be able to wake up so early and then set my alarm again for 7:50. I don’t really remember hearing my alarm again so I either just slept through it or turned it off and went back to sleep, but I woke up at 8:24 to someone knocking on my door and a bunch of Kakao Talk and Facebook messages on my phone from Pati, Alyssa, and Mawunyo all saying essentially the same things: “are you awake?” and  “are you ready? we’re leaving soon!” I sat up and uttered an expletive and ran to the door in my pajamas with my hair in a bun on top of my head, and I saw the three of them dressed and ready to go…. Awkward. I told them I’d be ready in 5 minutes and they went to get coffee. I was actually ready in 6 minutes, which was a miracle and I’m still not sure how I managed to do it. I managed to make myself not look like a hobo (as I usually look 6 minutes after I wake up) and ran out the door to the main lobby. It was raining really hard and I forgot an umbrella so I kind of just stood under a balcony until one of them came to get me. We set off in a taxi with 50 minutes to get to the hotel.

Me when I actually woke up and got out of bed at 8:24AM

The drive to the hotel took about 45 minutes and we got to the tour group office at almost exactly 9:30AM. We handed them our passports and paid the trip fee, and then the lady was like “okay we’re not leaving until about 10AM, so please be back here at 9:50!” So basically our Penn in Seoul program director knows that we’re late to everything and told us to show up early. That was smart on her part but like we were also panicking about being late. We made it on time, though, and that’s all that matters…

We got on the bus and started the tour. Our tour guide was a semi-elderly Korean woman allegedly named Laura. She tended to use a lot of sound effects while speaking and she was just hilarious in general. She was talking about North Korea and she said “They don’t have anything! They don’t have electricity, or even Home Depot!!”……. I’m not sure how modern North Korea has survived for so long without Home Depot, so kudos to them I guess. I thought our tour was only going to be at the DMZ/DMZ-related areas, but we stopped at the Korean War memorial and Imjingak Park along the way to learn a little about the Korean War and the division of the peninsula.

Korean War memorial

Memorial to fallen Korean soldiers

Hall of names of international and domestic soldiers who died in the war.

We didn’t stay that long in the war memorial since we were a little pressed for time, so we had a quick look around the place and got back on the bus. After the memorial, we went to Imjingak Park, which is a small park that’s fairly close to the DMZ. It has the Bridge of Freedom and the North-South Korean railway. The Bridge of Freedom is a wooden bridge used for POWs after the Korean War. Those from the North that were captured by the South and also those from the South who were captured by the North could cross back to their “homeland” via the Bridge of Freedom. It was blocked off after a few yards so as to prevent anyone from defecting to North Korea (which would be horrendous for North-South relations). The dividing wall was covered in South Korean flags and little hand-written notes; it was really cool and you could feel the nationalism and passion.

Korean War memorial

the bridge

Division of the Bridge of Freedom

After visiting this park, we went to eat lunch and then set off for the DMZ. We arrived at the first checkpoint of the DMZ, where an American soldier checked our passports and checked to see if our attire was appropriate. Apparently if you visit the DMZ you can’t wear anything sheer or “gangster” or “biker” or revealing, and you have to wear shoes with a closed toe and heel (in case you have to run….). Our tour guide said that usually the American solders who work at the first checkpoint are more lenient about attire than the South Korean soldiers. We passed through there and weren’t allowed to take pictures from that point on. I don’t think I’m even allowed to describe what I saw, because the South Korean government/military don’t want to broadcast their military technology/resources to the world.

We went to the Joint Security Area visitor center, where our tour guide gave us a very brief formal history of the Korean War, and then we went to the actual Joint Security Area (JSA). The JSA is a really small area of land (only 800 meters in diameter) with a bunch of North and South Korean buildings/offices. The border runs right down the middle of the JSA. We stood on some steps on the South Korean side and looked directly at North Korea; we were allowed to take pictures but only of North Korea (again, South Korea didn’t want us exposing their military stuff). Our tour guide said that there usually aren’t North Korean soldiers there since they only come when there are North Korean tourists (i.e. officials from Russia or China or really really rich people who pay to take a tour of North Korea) visiting the Northern portion of the DMZ. Today, though, was the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that “ended” the Korean war (a peace treaty has never been signed so technically the Korean War has yet to end) so there were some foreign military officials and I’m pretty sure some North Korean visitors, because there were a few North Korean soldiers there. Usually, the South Korean soldiers all stand facing North Korea in case of a sudden attack or defector. The North Korean soldiers stood a little differently; one stood facing the South, and two stood facing the North. Apparently this was because it was the best strategy for catching a North Korean defector; if someone tries to run to the South, the two people facing the North can catch him, and if someone tries to come in from the South, the one guy will see it. We stood on the steps of the South Korean building for about 10 minutes and then went into one of the conference rooms that’s also divided in half by the border. It was in this room that I had a chance to step into North Korea. Pretty cool stuff. There wer e 2 South Korean soldiers standing in there, and you’d think they were statues because they were standing so still and so sturdily. We were only allowed to stay in the conference room for about 5 minutes, so I was in North Korea for about 3 minutes today.

Hey it’s North Korea

Important (?) military people

A North Korean soldier from afar

North and South Korean soldiers

South Korean soldier in the conference room. I didn’t have time to take a picture with him

The actual border between the North (left) and the South (right)

After we left the border area we went back to the JSA visitor center to go to the souvenir shop and to use the restroom before going back to Seoul. The gift shop was actually really cool; they sold North Korean currency and alcohols (I bought a “wild grape” wine and pear brandy because the saleslady said they were the most popular). I guess the prices of things in this store were a lot cheaper than retail because (and I’m completely guessing, I have no idea if this is true) South Korean and American soldiers shop there so they lowered the price of stuff. Like they sold amethyst jewelry for pretty low prices because the soldiers like to buy it for their girlfriends. I bought 2 pairs of military Ray Ban aviators, which is what the soldiers wear, and they were only 35,000 won. Either they’re really real-looking fakes or they were just super cheap, but they seem pretty legit to me. This doesn’t mean much though because I’m also very naive… Whatever. I wanted to buy some at a different store at the Korean war memorial as gifts or whatnot but there they were 210,000 won. They’re nice sunglasses though so even if they aren’t real (even though I do think they’re not fake) it still doesn’t matter because they’re nice.

We left the JSA after shopping/bathroom-ing and went back to Seoul. We went to eat bbq after getting back (galbi 갈비 and samgyupsal 삼겹살), which is probably the 3rd of 4th time I’ve gotten bbq this week. I need to have a meal of carbs/fiber because eating all this protein can’t be that healthy. I feel okay though so I guess that’s all that matters?

Tomorrow marks the first day of my last week in Seoul!!! I still feel like I have a lot more to do (like shopping for things to bring home for family/friends and going to Myungdong for kpop related merchandise and going to an entertainment label building to look for idols and eat more korean food that i haven’t had yet and going to nightclubs that aren’t Octagon and ahhh so much stuff), but since i have a final and an essay due on Monday I feel like this weekend will be limited (or my performance on both of these assignments will suffer….which is less than ideal so I’ll probably work this weekend). If I don’t get to do all the stuff I want to by the time I leave, hopefully I can come back relatively soon (next summer? maybe?) and finish it then.

That’s all I have for now! Thanks for reading 🙂

안녕!