As you may or may not know, some people call me "Korea". So, here I am -- Korea in Korea.
How is it, you are wondering? Well, it's great. The weather is a little bit colder than it was in Bali. Here is a photo of me last week vs. me this week.
Today we went to the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) which is a 2 km (average) section between North and South Korea. After the war, when each side released their prisoners, they sent them over the Freedom bridge. Also, afterward, the North Koreans tried to dig tunnels under the zone in order to attack the south. The Southerners have found several tunnels and we got to go inside one of them. We were not allowed to take photos of the tunnels, but here is one of the Freedom Bridge.
There is a lot of interesting history to be found. I am sure you probably know this already, but Korea was occupied by the Japanese up until 1945. After this, they were struggling with their identity. Some people, who were backed by the Soviet Union, were in favor of communism. Others wanted Democracy. The two sides split and war broke out in 1950.
So today we went to see where a lot of the fighting took place. It was a barren landscape. There were soldiers everywhere. We even saw some US Army and UN folks. It was a little bit weird, being so non-nonchalant in a place where there had been such strife in the past. I felt a little strange about it.
Our guide, who was obviously from S. Korea, kept talking about how the N. Koreans are cannibals, as well as horrible people and terrorists. I wonder what the story is from the other side.
Have you ever been to a previous war zone? How did you feel about it? Did you relate more to one side than the other?
How is it, you are wondering? Well, it's great. The weather is a little bit colder than it was in Bali. Here is a photo of me last week vs. me this week.
Today we went to the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) which is a 2 km (average) section between North and South Korea. After the war, when each side released their prisoners, they sent them over the Freedom bridge. Also, afterward, the North Koreans tried to dig tunnels under the zone in order to attack the south. The Southerners have found several tunnels and we got to go inside one of them. We were not allowed to take photos of the tunnels, but here is one of the Freedom Bridge.
Freedom Bridge
There is a lot of interesting history to be found. I am sure you probably know this already, but Korea was occupied by the Japanese up until 1945. After this, they were struggling with their identity. Some people, who were backed by the Soviet Union, were in favor of communism. Others wanted Democracy. The two sides split and war broke out in 1950.
So today we went to see where a lot of the fighting took place. It was a barren landscape. There were soldiers everywhere. We even saw some US Army and UN folks. It was a little bit weird, being so non-nonchalant in a place where there had been such strife in the past. I felt a little strange about it.
Our guide, who was obviously from S. Korea, kept talking about how the N. Koreans are cannibals, as well as horrible people and terrorists. I wonder what the story is from the other side.
Have you ever been to a previous war zone? How did you feel about it? Did you relate more to one side than the other?
This was very interesting. I have never been to a previous war zone but I have heard that the Koreans are not very friendly towards eachother when it comes to the North VS the South.
ReplyDeleteMy sister went to the DMZ too! I vicariously travel through her . . . I've been to Pearl Harbor, which definitely had an eerie feeling standing over the sunken battle ships.
ReplyDelete