DMZ

Although it was a very rainy day (this is the beginning of the monsoon season in Korea!), we had a fascinating visit to the DMZ today! The DMZ (or Demilitarized Zone) is a strip of land that separates North and South Korea. It has served as a buffer zone between the two regions since the signing of the 1953 cease-fire agreement that ended the fighting of the Korean War (although the war has never officially ended). We knew this was going to be a serious tour when the tour agency asked us to bring our passports and to dress conservatively. The tour included going into the Third infiltration tunnel. This is a tunnel that South Korean officials discovered in 1978. It was one of many attempts by North Korea to invade South Korea (they discovered another tunnel as recently as 1990). We also got to see the Mt. Dora Observatory. Here we were able to look out over North Korea but we could only take photos from behind a specific photo line. The Mt. Dora train station is a very modern train station which was restored in hopes of reconnecting the rail service between Seoul and Pyeongyang. North Korea will still not allow this rail service to run but the South Koreans are hopeful that it will run in the future.