Behaving very politely at the DMZ

My trip to the DMZ

South Korea, click to enlarge

I live in Paju, which is a large city/county that borders the Demilitarized Zone.  Paju is pretty large, and I'm not in the town (Munsan) directly on the border, but I'm pretty close – about half an hour away by bus. 

My group used the USO (United Service Organization, affiliated with the US military base) to book and provide the tour, which meant that our tour was conducted by some extremely well-briefed army officers.  Our tour cost 96,000 won each (82 dollars), but I believe there are cheaper options.  Wed did everything available and it lasted from about 9-5 (including travel time).  Check out their Korea site for more information on how to book. 

DMZ Tour Rules:

1) Conservative clothing.  No bellies, shoulders, or shorts.  Nothing baggy, no skirts, no open toed shoes.

2) Absolutely no gestures toward N. Korea/N. Korea soldiers when at the DMZ.  Our guide's mantra went like this: "Do not wave, gesture, point, or attempt any communication with N. Korea."  Basically don't give N.K. an excuse to start some friendly fire.  This rule was rather one-sided: our tour guide told us that the North Korean soldiers liked to amuse themselves with flicking S.K. off, or miming slitting throats.

3) The U.S. and S.K. will not be held responsible for your death/injury at the hands of NK.  Really.  I signed the paper.  Actually, just read the paper for the actual rules.

        







































Stepping into North Korea at the JSA (Joint Security Area)

The only place on the DMZ where you can actually (safely) step foot into North Korea is in a small blue conference hut (the MAC conference room), half of which is in N.K.  Two S.K. guards were posted inside with us, and we quietly walked around, taking photos and nervously laughing about our location. 

When an S.K. or N.K. tour group (yes, N.K. also finds the DMZ profitable) uses the room, the other side stays out.  Our guide told us that he'd been on tours where N.K. soldiers made faces through the windows or stood up against the windows with binoculars, staring in at the group.

Notable moments in the MAC room include NK soldiers blowing their nose/wiping their foot on the US and ROK (SK) flags, prompting a switch to small flags inside a plexiglass cover.  Also, there was once an 11 and a half hour meeting between the sides (nick-named "the battle of the bladders") which lasted so long because no one wanted to get up to go to the bathroom first.

I didn't bring my camera into the MAC room because I didn't realize we were allowed, so the following pictures were taken by my friends Anel and Area:

blowing a kiss to the ROK soldier on duty in the MAC room at the DMZ

our group standing in North Korea.  or possibly South Korea.  I forget which side is which.

And of course, my iphone:

Area approaching the guard

ROK guard in the MAC room

Hey buddy

outside view

I want to say that this is North Korea and I didn't just take a totally random scenery shot. 

My wonderful friend Area planned and booked the trip, and wrote a great blog post about it which has lots of historical information.  Check it out.

And if you want a video of a tour pretty similar to ours:

Dorasan station: Area chilling in front of the unused train that connects NK to SK

DMZ sign at the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. Ross and I have gone native with our poses.

About to look across into N.K.

With 10 minutes to kill, we're obviously going to make a DMZ sign with our bodies.

Posted in: DMZ, DMZ tour 2012, ESL Korea 2012, JSA, Korea, MAC room, taking a DMZ tour, travel, visiting the DMZ