So last Thursday, our CIEE group took a day trip to the DMZ! It was one of the excursions that I was most looking forward to going on while here in Seoul. I have always been really interested in North Korea. The so-called “Hermit Kingdom” is extremely mysterious, which I guess is a large part of the attraction of tourists.
We started the day off by first stopping at the Korean War Museum in Seoul. We got to look around at a variety of exhibits before receiving a briefing about current North Korea-South Korea relations and South-Korea-United States/United Nations partnerships. We learned a lot of good information that gave us good background knowledge for our trip to the DMZ.
Korean War Museum
Model of the battle at the Pohang Girls' Elementary School by Student Volunteer Soldiers. One of my favority movies, 71 Into the Fire, is based off of this true event.
Then it was time to head up north!
On the way to North Korea!
There was a strict dress code for the DMZ that is set by the military: long pants, closed-toed shoes, no labels or profanity on your clothing, etc. We were also told when and where could and couldn’t take photographs.
When we were approaching the first gate to get to the DMZ, our tour guide, who was the same person who gave us the briefing, pointed out North Korea in the distance. Once we got to the first gate, we were let though and made our way to a large building. This is where we had lunch in the cafeteria. It was buffet style again, with rice, kimchi, little sausages, bulgogi, and more! It was actually one of the best meals I have had thus far, which really surprised me. Who knew that DMZ food would be awesome??
After lunch we got back on the bus and headed farther towards the border. We were met by an American infantryman who ended up being our tour guide for the rest of our time there. He came through the bus and checked all of our passports to make sure none of us were suspicious! We then drove to the tourist center. There we had another briefing about the rules and regulations and more about North and South Korea relations. We loaded onto one of their buses and headed to our first stop, one of the observation decks. We had yet another briefing in a room where the wall was just windows with North Korea in the distance. SUPER LEGIT. We also got to look through binoculars at North Korea from the deck.
Hello North Korea!
You can see North Korea in the distance!
Our tour guide pointed out one of the huge gold statues of Kim Il-Sung. It was huge and the sun was shining off of it. My resident director and tour guide kept saying how clear of a day it was. They had never been to the DMZ on such a clear day and had never been able to see so far into North Korea. We were so lucky! I also saw a bus moving, someone walking, and what looked to be some children playing basketball. We were allowed to take pictures, but only behind a certain yellow line.
Our next stop was the Third Infiltration Tunnel. Our guide for this part of the tour was pretty much the coolest person EVER. He was a South Korean soldier who spoke perfect English, but wait, with an AUSTRALIAN accent. Let’s just say all the girls loved him. We put on hard hats and walked 25 stories underground to the tunnel and got to walk all the way up to the first of 3 barriers that the South Koreans had put in place to close up the tunnel. This tunnel is one of 4 tunnels that the South has found since the war. The North has always denied that they made them, but who else could have done it? It was really cool learning about all of the history behind each tunnel as well.
Statue of people pushing the two Koreas back together, at the Third Infiltration Tunnel.
Our last location to visit was the JSA, or Joint Security Area. This is where talks between the North and the South take place. We walked through a main building and then out to the three little blue buildings that we always see on TV where the North Korean soldiers stand right across from the South Korean soldiers. There was only one North Korean soldier out while we were there. We were told that unless there is someone very high profile visiting the DMZ, there usually aren’t many North soldiers out. But it was cool to see one of them! He was looking at us through his binoculars! We got to go inside the main building used for talks. There were 2 South Korean soldiers in the building for our safety. One was positioned at the end of the conference table, while the other was standing in front of the door leading to North Korea. Whenever they need to let the North Koreans into the building, one soldier holds onto the wall with one hand and uses the other hand to hold onto the soldier who is opening the door. This is because years ago, some soldiers from the North tried to pull a South soldier over into North Korea. He fought off 2 North Soldiers and luckily got free and ran back to the South. From then on, the South takes no chances.
Briefing before we went to the JSA.
North Korea is through that door!
I felt really big standing next to him.
Second guard.
The soldiers who are stationed at the JSA are the cream of the crop of South Korean soldiers. They have to meet a height requirement, all are a black belt in some type of martial arts, most are at least bilingual, and more! Pretty impressive! Plus they all have cool hats and aviator sunglasses on, making them look even fiercer. They all also wear metal in the bottom of their rolled up pant legs so that when they march, they sound like a much larger army then they are.
South Korean soldiers standing as still as statues.
On guard.
He's looking at us!
CIEE group photo with our infantryman tour guide.
Hello, North Korea!
I got to stand on the North Korean side of the building, so I can say that I was actually in North Korea for about 5 minutes! It was a pretty awesome experience!
On the way back to the building where we got on the bus, we stopped off at another observation point. From there we could see the city in North Korea that we had looked at earlier, 기정동 (Kijong-dong). 기정동 is also known as the Propaganda Village of North Korea. At least that is what South Korea and the Western world calls it. North Korea call it the Peace Village instead. It was built to seduce South Koreans and try to make them want to defect to the North. It really isn’t a village at all though, seeing as how no one inhabits the area. The buildings are hollow and, as our tour guide said, they don’t even have floors in them. He told us that at night, the lights on the ceiling of the building continue to get dimmer as you look from the top floor to the bottom, because there are no floors! People still maintain the image of the village, however, to make North Korea look like a serene and beautiful place to live.
기정동, and the ridiculously large flagpole.
KaylaAnn and I at the observation point.
In the village of 기정동, is the world’s third largest flagpole. It measures 160 meters tall and the flag on it weighs almost 600 pounds! It takes 20-30 North Koreans to take down the flag and put up a new one! CRAZY! The flagpole was built in response to the one built just across the border in the South Korean village of 대성동 (Daeseong-dong). The South built a 98 meter tall flagpole with a flag weighing almost 300 pounds, but the North Koreans felt as though they could not be outdone. So, they built a flagpole almost twice as tall to show their superiority.
The village of 대성동 is located inside the DMZ on the South Korean side. There are only 212 residents in the village. Residents are considered South Korean civilians and have some privileges and restrictions. For example, they are exempt from taxation and military duty, but they have a curfew of 11 p.m. Quite interesting. This part of South Korea is where the best ginseng in the world is grown. It is quite expensive because it takes a long time to grow and the environment has to be perfect to produce it. We also got to see the Bridge of No Return on the way back as well.
Bridge of No Return
One important thing that I learned at the DMZ was the correct name to call the dividing line of the Koreas. We have been taught to call it the 38th Parallel, when in fact, the correct term is the MDL, or Military Demarcation Line.
If you are interested in learning more, I would recommend watching the movie JSA (Joint Security Area). Here is a link to some more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260991/. I first watched it in my East Asian Societies class at PLU and it was a great movie! As part of my CIEE program, I am taking a 2-credit seminar class taught by our resident director called Living and Learning in Seoul. So far we have had 3 classes. It has been pretty interesting so far. We have thus far been mostly focusing on Korean values and beliefs and have been talking about different situations where cultural differences and create conflict and harmony. We will have 13 more classes throughout the rest of the semester.
There are a couple of other opportunities that I will have through CIEE that I am definitely going to participate in! One is having the opportunity to hang with North Korean refugee children that go to school here in Seoul. Our first activity with them is actually this Saturday. Some of the students are coming to my dorm here on campus and we are going to learn how to make rice cakes together! Sounds like fun! The other opportunity is helping out at a local orphanage! It will mainly involved just holding cute little Korean babies in your arms. Sounds like a good time to me. J
On Sunday a few of my friends and I went to Lotte Mart, which is like a big supermarket, at Seoul Station. I got a lot of good stuff like cleaning supplies, a garbage can and silverware. We had lunch in the food court upstairs. On our way out to head back to school, there was a mariachi band playing awesome music outside. How random!
On Monday, we had another event through CIEE. It was called Addicted to Seoul, which is a program run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Our group was split into 2 different groups and we were each responsible for going to specific locations and complete different missions. I was the leader of group B, and we got to go to Digital Media City, World Cup Stadium, Pyeonghwa Park, and got ride a water taxi on the Han River. We were given directions on what subway or bus to take to get to each place and had 2 volunteers from the government with us to help us find our way. Here are some pictures from the different places and of our missions:
On the way to the government building.
Outside the government building.
Digital Media City
Virtual fish!
U-tree! It has sensors on it, so when you clap, it lights up and makes sounds.
Sidewalk of the future!
Don't get hit by the cars!
World Cup uniforms.
Inside the World Cup Stadium. This was one of the stadiums used for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.
Korea's #1!
What's that? A dugout?
Locker room.
Celebrating a goal!
A photo with the team.
Outside World Cup Stadium.
Pyeonghwa Park.
Cool trees in the park!
After the Nanjido landfill.
It takes a plastic bottle 110 years to decompose. Eww.
Before the landfill, the land was full of wildlife.
Flowers in the park.
Waiting for our water taxi.
There it is!
Inside the boat.
Han River.
Outside the back of the boat.
Half of our group with the taxi driver.
My group headed out of the government building to start our journey a minute too early to see a celebrity. One of the members of the other group, who was still in the building, called a member of our group and said that we left only 60 seconds too early to see Park Yoochun (aka Mickey) from the band JYJ. JYJ is a 3-member group. The three used to be part of the 5 member group DBSK, which was one of the most famous bands in Korea. SOOO upset that we missed him. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
Here is a link to learn more about them:
Tidbit of the Day #2:
All day long while we were carrying out our missions, there was a professional camera lady running around following us and asking to interview us. We thought that she was going to be making a promotional video for the program. Toward the end of the day, however, we found out that the footage would be used for Arirang TV, an English station in Korea. We could all be famous and be on Korean TV!!! WHAT??!! I’ll be keeping a look out for our footage!
After we were done with the Addicted to Seoul program, we were let loose for the night! We went down to the stream by one of the main streets in Seoul and dipped our feet in the water. So refreshing on a hot and humid evening. We must have been interesting because some Koreans were "pretending" to take a picture in front of the stream but were really just trying to get us American girls in the background. :) We do tend to stand out over here.
Felt so good! There were little fishies in there too!
Shout out to Katie! Marilyn is even in Seoul!
Trying to throw coins into the wishing well across the stream. Almost made it a couple of times!
Here are some pictures of the city that night! So pretty! I love Seoul at night. J
Gwanghwamun Square.
After being in Seoul for 2 and half weeks, classes are finally going to start on Thursday. I feel as though I have been on vacation for a while but now I actually have to start doing work. L Oh well, I guess it is time to learn! The classes that I am taking are Modern Korean History, Politics and Society of North Korea, Contemporary Korean Cinema and Society, and Korean Language. I am excited for all of them! They all sound so interesting! Up until now, we were all under the impression that all of us complete beginners in the Korean Language would not have to take the placement test because we don’t really know anything and wouldn’t really be able to even understand the test. I found out today that we might actually have to take it. It consists of writing, reading, and an oral portion where people ask you questions and you answer them. We are going to show up on Thursday and make sure that we do have to in fact take it. I am hoping they turn us away and say that we don’t have to. If we do, it’s going to be a lot of leaving answers blank and staring dazed and confused at the person trying to test me. I know a few Korean words and phrases, and I can read the language, but I have no idea what anything means. This should be interesting. I’ll let you know what happens!
The past 24 hours have been full of excitement, as I have purchased tickets to both my very first AND second K-Pop concerts! Three of my friends and I are going to see 2PM this Saturday! They are a 6-member boy band who is known as “beastly idols.”
The second concert that we will be going to is Rain. Some of you have probably heard of him. He is pretty famous worldwide. If you have ever seen the movie Ninja Assassin, he is the main guy in that. He is an extremely famous Korean actor and singer. The concert we are going to is his VERY LAST CONCERT before he goes into the military! Seeing as how this is a super special concert, we are hoping that there are other big names there as well! Something big is going to go down! I can feel it! We will be going to his concert on September 25. Learn more about Rain here: http://www.rain-jihoon.com/n2/. And lastly, a picture of my new Korean cell phone! What would a Korea cell phone be without cute phone charms?
So tomorrow a few of my friends and I are headed off to Myeongdong, one of the biggest shopping districts in Seoul. My goal is to find cute shoes in my size! Wish me luck! Hopefully I’ll make a quick post tomorrow or Thursday detailing my adventures at Myeongdong. Tata for how!
안녕!
Hails
