38th parallel universe
It will relieve you to know that I am not allowed to actually visit North Korea. While tours are available, as an employee of the US government I could lose my job if I chose to take that opportunity. So I went on a tour of the DMZ instead.
It is completely surreal. There is a whole little complex built specifically to maintain what is called peace. This peace is accentuated by the armed guards in Taekwando angry stance staring across less than a football field at each other every day. As tourists, we were not allowed to point or gesture; in some places we couldn't even turn around. The area has beautiful buildings and lots of trees. It really looks rather pleasant except for the fencing with mine markers hanging from it.
The tour itself took us past Freedom village where a group of South Koreans live and farm right next to the DMZ. They are not allowed outside of their village after dark and have to be completely locked in their homes by midnight and live under the protection of the military. There is a huge monetary insentive for the folks to stay there, but I'm not sure why the governemnt wants to keep them there other than bravado.
The North Korean bravado is of course even larger in scale. Just across their border they built paradise village or something like that. It is supposed to show the South how idyllic life in the North is so they will want to defect, and if you aren't convinced by the visual impressiveness of the village, don't worry. They are also broadcasting propoganda from there as well. The ironic thing is that not a single human sole actually gets to live there. It's just for show.
We also went into one of the tunnels that the North Koreans dug with the goal of a stealth attack on Seoul. It was about a mile long and 73meters underground. I could not believe the amount of work that went into just that one, and there are at least three others that they built and more suspected that haven't been found.
The strangest part of the tour was the movie. It was in the museum at the tunnel, and we assumed that it would be a historical film, but it was propoganda too. It started with a little girl walking through a wartorm area and crying as bombs are going off and it ended with the little girl frolicking in a DMZ that has been turned into a park/ecological preserve. It left you with the comment that the DMZ is a symbol of peace and unity. I'm not sure if that was a grammar mistake or just complete delusional thinking.
I am left wanting to read more about Korean history to have a better understanding of what all I saw. History gives so much more perspective on things. Especially when you can't understand the broken English of your Korean tour guide and the American soldier who is accompanying you speaks so rapidly and in such substandard dialect that you are returning to the Korean with broken English for clarification. That was hilarious.
It is completely surreal. There is a whole little complex built specifically to maintain what is called peace. This peace is accentuated by the armed guards in Taekwando angry stance staring across less than a football field at each other every day. As tourists, we were not allowed to point or gesture; in some places we couldn't even turn around. The area has beautiful buildings and lots of trees. It really looks rather pleasant except for the fencing with mine markers hanging from it.
The tour itself took us past Freedom village where a group of South Koreans live and farm right next to the DMZ. They are not allowed outside of their village after dark and have to be completely locked in their homes by midnight and live under the protection of the military. There is a huge monetary insentive for the folks to stay there, but I'm not sure why the governemnt wants to keep them there other than bravado.
The North Korean bravado is of course even larger in scale. Just across their border they built paradise village or something like that. It is supposed to show the South how idyllic life in the North is so they will want to defect, and if you aren't convinced by the visual impressiveness of the village, don't worry. They are also broadcasting propoganda from there as well. The ironic thing is that not a single human sole actually gets to live there. It's just for show.
We also went into one of the tunnels that the North Koreans dug with the goal of a stealth attack on Seoul. It was about a mile long and 73meters underground. I could not believe the amount of work that went into just that one, and there are at least three others that they built and more suspected that haven't been found.
The strangest part of the tour was the movie. It was in the museum at the tunnel, and we assumed that it would be a historical film, but it was propoganda too. It started with a little girl walking through a wartorm area and crying as bombs are going off and it ended with the little girl frolicking in a DMZ that has been turned into a park/ecological preserve. It left you with the comment that the DMZ is a symbol of peace and unity. I'm not sure if that was a grammar mistake or just complete delusional thinking.
I am left wanting to read more about Korean history to have a better understanding of what all I saw. History gives so much more perspective on things. Especially when you can't understand the broken English of your Korean tour guide and the American soldier who is accompanying you speaks so rapidly and in such substandard dialect that you are returning to the Korean with broken English for clarification. That was hilarious.
posted by Claire | 9:36 PM
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