Okay, onto the second half of my DMZ tour. After visiting Panmunjom, we drove past the point of the axe murder incident and also the bridge of no return. We weren’t allowed off the bus because this area is pretty dangerous still (maybe it’s the landmines?) but they slowed down enough for us to get some photos.
The ax murder incident happened in 1976 when a group of US and ROK people went in perform a routine trimming of a poplar tree, which blocked view of United Nations Command checkpoint center. Then a group of 15 or so North Korean soldiers came and told them to stop trimming the tree because Kim Il Sung planted it (which is completely false). During the incident 2 US Army soldiers were axed to death.
Memorial for Ax Murder Death
Bridge of No Return- used for prisoner exchange after the Korean War
The Military Demarcation Line runs through the middle of the bridge. After the Korean War, prisoners were brought here and were allowed to decide if they wanted to go to the north or south, but once they crossed the bridge, they would never be allowed to return.
After this, we headed to the Third Tunnel, one of 4 underground secret tunnels dug by North Korea to have access to do a surprise attack on Seoul.
The North Koreans painted the insides of these tunnels black, in case they were found. They could pass it off as a coal mine. There are many theories on these tunnels, some saying many more are to be discovered. Others say these are decoy tunnels and the real ones are much trickier to find. Anyway, to visit the third tunnel, you have to be in good health and ready for a long walk at an 11 degree angle down this hallway to get to the actual tunnel (it’s a bit rough on the way up, even for those in shape). Then you have to put on a hard hat to walk through the tunnel. The tunnel itself is quite narrow, usually 2 people could walk on it, going in either direction, and if you’re tall- watch out! I saw one guy in his 50’s turn around because of his back. Unfortunately, photography was prohibited in the tunnel so no pictures, however afterwards at the tunnel gift shop, I took a photo of some DMZ rice.
After the exhausting tunnel walk, we got back on the bus and went to the Dora Observatory, where you can look through those view finder/binocular thingies at North Korea, including Kaesong village (where North Koreans are working for a large South Korean company). Photos here were mostly prohibited too, but they allowed a picture of the observatory itself.
Thus ended our tour of the DMZ, however the tour itself wasn’t over. We then switched buses, went just outside of the DMZ to have lunch, where I bought some North Korean beer for my aunt’s husband. (South Korean beer isn’t that great, but I’ve heard Koreans and foreigners rave about this stuff).
After lunch, we headed to our last stop on the official tour which was Dorasan station. This train station once could take supplies and passengers into North Korea, but these days Dorasan is the last station people can go to. It’s mostly tourists there now. I believe the decision to close off the station was a decision both by the North and South for political reasons. There used to be tours that used the train to go up to the highest mountain in all of Korea, Baekdu mountain. But a few years ago at Mount Kumgang, a 53 year old South Korean tourist was shot when she accidentally crossed a military border. This tourist spot had been opened since 1998, with over a million visitors, but now pretty much all tourism to the north from the south has shut down. I went off on a tangent there but here are some photos of Dorasan station.
I think everyone really enjoyed the tour. It costs a little bit more than the other ones, but if you’re interested in history and have all day to spare, I would highly recommend the Koridoor USO tour for a visit to the DMZ.
Halfie in Seoul 