In 2001 I travelled up to the DMZ (de-militarised zone) between North and South Korea, possibly the very last bastion of the cold war on earth. Luckily my very good friend Meredith Rowe, who I met in Seoul (we were both on visual art Asialink residencies from Australia) suggested we go up and check it out as a friend of hers from London, Matt Utber, was visiting Korea as well. So, off we went on an 'official' US Army led tour, and indeed it was an amazing experience. (These photos arent so good... scanned from 35mm slides on my home scanner)
Firstly, there are alot of these South Korean soldiers posted here and there who are in a particular Tae Kwon-do stance, a 'ready to fight' stance. They stood absoluetely motionless and had the dark aviator sun glasses on under their helmets, so kind of resembled robots with their expressionless, unmoving faces. To add to this their uniforms were immaculate, and at the bottom of thier trousers, in the cuff were sewn in ball bearings which made a loud metallic sound as they marched around the place. Apparently it keeps the trouser cuff perfectly round and just so....
Quite a few of these robo-soldiers stood exactly half way on the edge of a building, like the chap in the above photo on the right. He is watching the North Korean soldiers (dressed in more drab olive green, Chinese style military garb) who are in a building just over the demarcated border about 100 meters away. When I asked our American soldier tour leader why they stand like that he told me its because they have only a 50% chance of being hit if fired upon. Of course, silly me...
It was quite surreal to look over and see these two opposing factions, once a unified people, just stand and watch each other in mistrust and paranoia, all day every day, for the last 50 years. You can just make out a robo-soldier (click on photo to enlarge) at the very bottom left of the above photo, looking to the grey building which is the N. Korean HQ at the DMZ.
One of the amazing things at the DMZ is you are taken into the 'negotiation room' which is actually right on the border of the two countries. The table you see in this photo, with one of the robo-soldiers at the head, straddles the border, and you are free to walk around this modest-sized room, so when you are on one side of the room you are officially in S. Korea, and the other side you are in N. Korea. Again, very surreal, and no passport required either.
On this tour you are taken to several sites around the place. In the photo above you can just make out a small city in the background centre with a huge pole. This is a 'make believe' city called Punnjamon(?) in North Korea. The pole is the largest flagpole in the world (designed a bit like the Eiffel Tower) and can fly the biggest flag in the world (North Korean, of course), which due to the sheer weight of it cannot fly even in the strongest winds. It has to be taken down if it rains as it will tear under its own weight too. But the amazing thing is the city itself was built (apparently, according to our tour leader, who might be prone to a bit of US inspired propaganda too no doubt...) as a showcase city, to show how well the North Koreans are doing, so it is a city with fairly large buildings etc, but we were told nobody lives there at all. What I would give to go over there for a day.....
This photo was taken from our tour bus (we weren't allowed to get out here... no photos allowed either but I snuck one in...) of a bridge coloquially called 'the bridge of no return'. It goes over into N. Korea, and the story goes that if anyone does break away from the tour group and you run over this bridge into enemy lands you will not be allowed to come back. We were told that if anyone tried this the allied forces (US and S Korean soldiers) would fire upon you to try and stop you, but if you made it over that was your fate, you wouldnt be allowed back. This apparently happened once with a German tourist many years ago and he has never been seen again. I have my own personal story about this bridge: my mum who is American worked for the US embassy in Seoul in 1959 - '60 and for some reason was up in this area with some friends in a car, just goofing around. They got a bit lost as it was at night and started driving towards the bridge. All of a sudden huge flood lights went on and soldiers poitning guns and shouting rushed them demanding to know what they were doing. They simply said they were lost, had a big laugh about it and were pointed back in the other direction. A close call....
It's a truly amazing place, an amazing bit of history still kicking today. if you are ever in Seoul, or S Korea it is well worth the trip if you can arrange it. I truly hope Korea becomes a unified country again and this kind of thing is relegated to the history books, but until then I highly reccomend this bizzare tour.
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