"I have seen the Others...

...and I have discovered that this fight is not worth fighting."

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is an eerie place. Time stands still, frozen in 1953 when combat ended. But I could still sense the tension, the conflict, the animosity, the resentment, the history. It's been 60 years since North Korea attacked the South, but not much has changed in the DMZ. Land mines still litter the lush hills, a now-sanctuary for birds and other creatures. Propaganda Village rests in the North close to the border with the biggest flag in the world hanging high, a town with zero inhabitants and empty buildings beautifully decorated on the outside to lure Southerners to defect to the North. An oppessive dictatorship and communist country to the North and a fast-growing, modern democratic republic to the South. Heart-breaking.

In the Joint Security Area (JSA), I entered the U.N. room where talks of peace between the two Koreas take place. As I walked to the northern part of the room, I passed into North Korea. That alone had my heart racing. Two South Korean soldiers, trained in martial arts, guard this room--one stationed at the door leading to North Korea and one at the line of demarcation (the border). After we exited this room, we stoodnd on the stairs leading to a building on the South Korean side. As we turned around, an American soldier informed us that there was a North Korean soldier watching us from the stairs of the building on the North Korean side. They are always watching visitors in this area, but seeing his uniform, his rigid stance, I realized that I was on a battleground, that I was vulnerable and exposed. Any gesture--pointing, making strange faces, raising your arms in any way--is strictly forbidden as North Korea can use it as evidence that the South and the people inhabiting it are... crazy? Inappropriate? For this reason, we had to adhere to a strict dress code.

Next, we went to the Dora Observatory, where we were able to see far into the DMZ and into the North, a beautiful yet sad sight. Then it was on to the 3rd Tunnel. A North Korean engineer defected to the South in the early 70s and reveiled that North Korean has been building tunnels to the South in an attempt at a sneak attack. South Korea found four but are certain that there are more than 20 in total. I visited the 3rd one that was found. I walked down a steep incline 73 meters underground and followed the tunnel from the beginning (on the South Korean side of the DMZ) to the first blockade that South Korea set up in order to prevent North Korea from continuing their digging. Oddly enough, North Korea claims that these tunnels are South Korean-made. However, the dynamite blasts face the South, clearly telling us that the North was making their way south.

It's easy to forget sometimes that the Korean peninsula is still at war, but that trip reminded me why it's going on in the first place. The lineage of Kim Jung-il is power-hungry and crazed, brainwashing and abusing their people. The South is so lucky to be free.

xx
hh