Inside the DMZ, the 4km wide line that separates South and North Korea is the famous Joint Security Area, or JSA. It is the only place where North and South Korea will communicate officially and it’s been that way since 1953 when the Armistice was signed that halted the Korean War.
“The North Koreans are coming for us!”
Of course when you’re here you have to go see this because it’s so unique in the world. It’s located about an hour north of central Seoul and the only way to see it is to join a tour. You can’t do this privately and there are only certain days when the tours run. So it was with much effort that we found ourselves in the lobby of our hotel at 7am (!) waiting to be picked up by our tour company so that we could climb onto our bus to the JSA.
Complete with doilies and kindly Korean tour conductor. Ugh, too early. But as promised about an hour later we arrived at Camp Bonifas where you pile out of the bus to see a 15 minute slide presentation provided by the US Army.
The picture is blurry because we had a bunch of heavy breathers on the bus and the 1960’s era bus HVAC couldn’t keep up. In any event, as soon as we sat down for the presentation the power went out to the Camp. One tiny little moment of panic where you thought that this was it, the North Koreans are coming for us! Turns out it was an ordinary power outage which saved us from the slide show.
After this we climbed only an Army shuttle and were driven to the JSA.
Once there it became a little more real. That imposing looking building in the back is North Korea looking back at an equally imposing looking building on the south side.
To the left, just out of the picture, is where the North Korean who tried to escape was shot and nearly killed a few weeks ago. The blue buildings straddle the actual dividing line between North and South and is where talks are held when they happen.
So after a few minutes we were led into the room where talks are held and inside were two very imposing soldiers from the South Korean army guarding the inside.
Strangely you were allowed to take pictures while standing next to a soldier. Of course the soldiers never flinched. The door right behind Jeffrey and the soldier opens out into North Korea. Of course we were told not to open it as we could have been kidnapped. Then, naturally, all you wanted to do was open the door to see if that really would happen.
After about 10 minutes in the room we were led back out and to our bus. The next part of the tour was an included bibimbap lunch at what could possibly be the most dismal place you’ve ever seen. It actually looks better in the picture than it was in real life.
An hour later we left and made a pit stop at a “theme park” where the most interesting thing was a fence of reunification wishes that visitors had tied ribbons onto.
By 2pm we were back in Seoul. Overall a great little tour and can easily recommend it if you come here.
