{"id":259,"date":"2006-07-06T04:55:00","date_gmt":"2006-07-06T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.netjeff.com\/wp\/?p=259"},"modified":"2024-03-02T11:19:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T18:19:18","slug":"what-i-did-this-summer-visited-n-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netjeff.com\/wp\/?p=259","title":{"rendered":"What I did this summer: Visited N. Korea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(Update<\/b><\/i>:\u00a0 I've uploaded Korea photos<\/a>) On Thursday Joe & I took a USO tour to the Korean DMZ<\/a>.\u00a0 I thought we were only going up to the edge of the DMZ, but it turns out that we actually drove out to a complex in the middle of the DMZ.\u00a0 In fact, we got to briefly cross over onto the N. Korean side of the DMZ.\u00a0 Read on…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour started at the USO office in Seoul.  We boarded a bus and drove 1 1\/2 hours north to the DMZ.  We learned that the DMZ consists of a Military Demarcation Line (MDL) set during the 1953 armistice.  The DMZ itself extends 2 km to the north and south of the MDL.  The bulk of the DMZ is essentially wilderness and is unoccupied.  Because it is demilitarized, there are no landmines or any other military apparatus (although there are minefields etc outside of the DMZ).  Within the DMZ is the Joint Security Area (JSA) where North & South Korean military face each other every day.  The JSA spans the MDL, and consists of several buildings on both sides of the MDL.  When N & S Korea meet for talks, they meet in a small, single-room building that spans the MDL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour bus took us into the JSA.  Things were very strict.  In most places no photography was allowed.  We had to sign a waiver that included the following: \"I understand that the tour … includes entry into a hostile area which may possibly result in injury or death as a result of direct military action\".  Not your usual waiver text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we got into the DSA and got off the bus, they usually had us walking in two lines.  There was a military jeep with armed soldiers escorting the bus.  While we were in the JSA, the soldiers stationed there were more clearly more alert.  We were not allowed to point or gesture in any way to N Korea. While we were there we saw a few N Korean soldiers just outside their buildings only a few hundred feet away.  Some of them had binoculars watching us.  It sounds like sometimes N Korean personnel will be all the way down to the MDL, but not today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour then had us walk into the small building used for talks between the North and South.  This is one of the buildings that spans the MDL.  While in this building we actually were able to stand on the N Korea side of the MDL.  So in one sense, I actualy visted N Korea.  I hope that doesn't blow my chances for a security clearance some day.  :-)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some other interesting history that occured in the JSA include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n