I have a typical Korean breakfast of soup with tofu and noodles. It is actually very good. I am a big fan of Asian spices, so I asked for it to be spicy, and the chef did not disappoint! Spicy! Jay meets me and introduces me to his sister, who runs the hotel.
I had to let her know that I think it is an especially run hotel. From there we go to the Samsung headquarters where Jay talks to me about South Korean demographics, history and current events. The armistice line from the Korean War was the actual front on the day the Armistice was signed. Interestingly, it is higher in the East and lower to the West, where Seoul is. The Americans had dug in at a certain point, not pushing the front farther North by that point while the South Korean army had continued a Northerly push to the East, resulting in the diagonal border with North Korea. Seoul is a mere 50 miles from the North Korean border. Pretty frightening. I told Jay how interested I was in the history behind the war, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in particular, so he offered to see if I could get a tour of the DMZ. After about an hour of chatting, we parted ways. I thanked him for his generosity with his time and hospitality, and I went to the Samsung showroom.You know what, I don’t need to know about all these cool gadgets and toys. The digital cameras and cellphones are really interesting, and it looks like Samsung is doing a lot of innovation besides increases in pixel count and optical zooms. There is one camera which has an LCD on the front of the camera, so one can see oneself while doing a self-portrait. Or, the LCD will show a short cartoon, hopefully getting a fidgety child to look at the camera for 10 seconds. Cool. There was a case showing their most popular cellphones over the years, which included one of mine. But, the thing that I loved, were the LED displays. These televisions was large, but incredibly thin and had the best clarity I have ever seen. The Blu-Ray dvd of choice at the moment is The Dark Knight. If I were home, I would have rushed out to buy that tv in a heartbeat. Thank goodness I’m not at home. My two inch thick tv is starting to seem clunky to me.
After visiting the showroom, I was off to the DMZ. I had a tour of the areas that are opened to tourists. The whole set-up is incredibly elaborate and secure. At a certain point, you leave your car and can only be transported by designated transport.
No one goes within a certain distance of the Armistice Line, and the UN designated DMZ is only two kilometers on each side of the Armistice Line. South Korea has fortified beyond that point, also. There is an observation point that one can go to, but not take pictures. There are no photographs in the South Korean controlled area around the DMZ except in designated areas. At the observation point, there is a yellow line painted on the ground which specifies at which point photo-taking is not allowed. They do not want any tourist photos to inadvertently give the North Koreans intelligence on their defenses. After all, the two Koreas are technically still at war with each other.From the observation point one can see the actual line of demarcation and the UN buildings straddling that point. It is a surreal sight. At one point, one of the two countries built a large flagpole which could be seen across the border. Then the other Korea built a slightly taller one. Then the other built a taller one, and so forth. North Korea now has the tallest flagpole in the world. It is kind of absurd. Most of the country is dying of starvation, but they have a really tall piece of steel with a flag on the top. In fact, the country is so destitute, that it cannot afford to change the flag at the top of the pole, so it leaves a very heavy one up there. It is old and obviously fading, and, to be frank, I think it looks pretty sad and decrepit. But, there you go, symbolism is more important to some political regimes than the true poverty and dire situation of its citizens. Another case where misplaced bravado wins the day.
After the Armistice, the North Koreans dug tunnels underneath the border to aid in any future military offensive against the South. The South Koreans inadvertently discovered the tunnels and have continued to look for tunnels since the first discovery.
Since the late 50s, four tunnels have been discovered, the latest in the 90s. These tunnels were designed to allow hundreds of thousands of North Korean troops across the border. These have become tourist destinations for the South, much to the dismay of the cash-strapped North. Walking down several hundred feet, I walked through the tunnel, which was incredibly interesting. Upon discovery by the South, the North Koreans digging the tunnel quickly spray painted the walls black in places, so that they could claim that the tunnels were dug as coal mines. Really? What a lame excuse. This kind of delusion is sickening. The tunnels were also very low, since the soldiers from North Korea are pretty short. On average, North Koreans are shorter than their Southern counterparts due to decades of malnutrition.
I met some American soldiers who were touring the site. They were very interesting. The US military has troubled relationship with the population of South Korea, primarily due to a series of scandals over the past decade with US soldiers and the local civilian population. The soldiers I met were very interesting, discussing their role in the region and how it has become a very important base with the burgeoning presence of China to the west, the unpredictable posturing of North Korea to the north, and important international shipping lanes to the south and west.The DMZ has had one unexpected positive benefit. It has become a nature preserve. Since the area has been completely cleared of human interactions for 50 years, unique plant and animal life have taken refuge there. Hopefully, one day, when the DMZ ceases to be used as a heavily fortified border, and the Koreas are reunited, the area will continue to function as a wildlife preserve and maintain the special habitat it has created.
The final stop was the northern most train station in South Korea. It is actually linked with the North and was used as an international cargo transfer location until the North closed it at their end. You can get stamps there, showing you visited the Seoul-Pyongyang train station, but I chose not to get that stamp in my passport. I don’t know, but I don’t think having the Pyongyang stamp in my passport would endear me to many customs officials around the world, let alone upon returning to my own beloved United States of America. So I stamped a small piece of paper, wondering to myself what I would do with that piece of paper. Eh. South Korean soldiers also stand there, and I asked if I could take a photo with them. They agreed. I asked if they wanted to do a fun pose, and they looked at me with questioning looks. So, I did my grrrr pose, to which they just stared at the camera. I still think it was pretty cool and they would have liked to have had some fun, too, but they played coy. Well done, soldiers. You put me in my place.Afterwards I got back to the hotel and had dinner. I went out on the town, but there is not that much to explain. The city was very interesting, like Tokyo in the sense that restaurants and bars are on various floors of buildings. Since my Korean is non-existent (I did learn that saying “come see my dog” really fast sounds like “thank you” in Korean), my ability to go out was limited. Tomorrow, back to Japan.
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