The DMZ (border between North and South Korea!!)
The DMZ was a surreal experience for me as only one year previous had I visited the DMZ from South Korea when I was in Seoul. Never did I imagine that one year later I would be standing on the other side!
The DMZ tour started with a tour of the souvenir shop about 2 km from the border (first shop of many to come on this trip!!), I bought a nice hoodie with 'see you in Pyongyang' and the north Korean flag written/drawn on it, have barely taken it off since! After the souvenir shop we then met our DPRK soldier who escorted us through the DMZ. He gave us first a brief history lesson about the DMZ and the war which our guide Ms Kim translated for us.
After this we then proceeded towards the DMZ itself where North and South meet, but just before we went into the room where the armistice agreement was signed in 1953 and we viewed the book where it was signed and again were told more about the history from the DPRK side. This room was very interesting as it had great significant historical interest.
Once we left this room it was at this moment we were taken directly to the DMZ itself! This was for me a highlight of the trip, although I was very disappointed that we were unable to visit the blue JSA rooms where I had visited one year previous, but I didn't really care as hell, I was in the DPRK!! We had a look over to the South side with a view from the top of the DPRK building, it was eerily empty on the south side, not a single ROK (Republic of Korea) or USA soldier in sight! When I was there it was full of them! Maybe it was to protect us, I don't know.
After the look onto the south side we then proceeded to have our pictures taken with our soldier, this guy was super nice and friendly and nothing how you would expect soldiers of the DPRK to be, he seemed to have a genuine smile and liked having us there, not just in a Propaganda mode. Its probably true that they like having us visitors as they only get tour groups an average of once a week so its quite a nice change for them and they like to meet us, personally I felt safe there even if a war broke out, you had the feeling that because your on their side of the border they would protect you. I don't doubt for a minute that that is true.
After we left the main part of the DMZ we were shown a couple of monuments then came my worst nightmare and worst moment of the trip. I had mentioned (as its perfectly fine to do) that I had visited from the South one year previous and then the guard asked me a question in front of the entire group: 'what did the south say about us?', this question of course is all nice and well but when its my first proper day in the DPRK and I am being asked this, I was very scared to say what the south said as of course a lot of what the south said was very negative. I was 'erm, well, erm, they, erm, said erm...'. In the end I just tried to be diplomatic and I answered with 'they said some negative stuff but not all was negative, they have some illusions that for example there is a village that has no occupants and its just to make the DPRK look better than it already is'. Ms Kim laughed and so did the guard and then she assured me that this village was full of people and living ordinary lives, this however is to be debated...
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| 2016 DMZ from the South |
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| My first 'step inside' the DPRK 2016 |
The DMZ tour started with a tour of the souvenir shop about 2 km from the border (first shop of many to come on this trip!!), I bought a nice hoodie with 'see you in Pyongyang' and the north Korean flag written/drawn on it, have barely taken it off since! After the souvenir shop we then met our DPRK soldier who escorted us through the DMZ. He gave us first a brief history lesson about the DMZ and the war which our guide Ms Kim translated for us.
After this we then proceeded towards the DMZ itself where North and South meet, but just before we went into the room where the armistice agreement was signed in 1953 and we viewed the book where it was signed and again were told more about the history from the DPRK side. This room was very interesting as it had great significant historical interest.
Once we left this room it was at this moment we were taken directly to the DMZ itself! This was for me a highlight of the trip, although I was very disappointed that we were unable to visit the blue JSA rooms where I had visited one year previous, but I didn't really care as hell, I was in the DPRK!! We had a look over to the South side with a view from the top of the DPRK building, it was eerily empty on the south side, not a single ROK (Republic of Korea) or USA soldier in sight! When I was there it was full of them! Maybe it was to protect us, I don't know.
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| from left to right: Robert, Piere, Cliff, Antony, Nats, George, Juri, James, Shelbs, DPRK Soldier, Phillip, Me, Timo, Celine, David, Josh (tour guide), Laura, Nelson, Justin, Sam |
After the look onto the south side we then proceeded to have our pictures taken with our soldier, this guy was super nice and friendly and nothing how you would expect soldiers of the DPRK to be, he seemed to have a genuine smile and liked having us there, not just in a Propaganda mode. Its probably true that they like having us visitors as they only get tour groups an average of once a week so its quite a nice change for them and they like to meet us, personally I felt safe there even if a war broke out, you had the feeling that because your on their side of the border they would protect you. I don't doubt for a minute that that is true.
After we left the main part of the DMZ we were shown a couple of monuments then came my worst nightmare and worst moment of the trip. I had mentioned (as its perfectly fine to do) that I had visited from the South one year previous and then the guard asked me a question in front of the entire group: 'what did the south say about us?', this question of course is all nice and well but when its my first proper day in the DPRK and I am being asked this, I was very scared to say what the south said as of course a lot of what the south said was very negative. I was 'erm, well, erm, they, erm, said erm...'. In the end I just tried to be diplomatic and I answered with 'they said some negative stuff but not all was negative, they have some illusions that for example there is a village that has no occupants and its just to make the DPRK look better than it already is'. Ms Kim laughed and so did the guard and then she assured me that this village was full of people and living ordinary lives, this however is to be debated...
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