The United Nations Command, the United States of America, and the Republic of Korea cannot guarantee the safety of visitors and may not be held accountable in the event of a hostile enemy act.

There’s even a section about not interacting with the soldiers on the other side too.

Fraternization, including speaking, making gestures or associating with personnel from the Korea People’s Army/Chinese People’s Volunteers (KPA/CPV) side, is strictly prohibited

Anyway, the full text is here for people who are curious

“Korea DMZ” by Rishabh Tatiraju is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Joint Security Area at Panmunjom

The most worthwhile part of the trip was to be able to visit the Joint Security Area in Panmunjom or the so-called “Truce Village”. This is the part of the DMZ where people from the North and South can see each other face-to-face. Travelling here allowed me to see a piece of history that I was already interested in.

Before going in everyone had to sign an agreement, where one passage says, “The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action.” Luckily, the US soldier informed us that it was “highly unlikely for anything to happen”. We were also told to not make any gestures toward the North Korean guards or any tourists on the other side.

The blue buildings are conference buildings where meetings with both sides take place. They are placed such that half of the building lies on each side of the border. The gray/white building is the Panmungak, a North Korean building. On the first door on the left, a North Korean soldier stands on guard. Concrete slabs show the separation between the two sides. I guess this means I’ve technically been to North Korea – at least for a few minutes.

Third Infiltration Tunnel

Another destination we went to was the Third Infiltration Tunnel, which had the potential of being used to attack the South and its location was revealed by North Korean defector. This was known because there were clear signs of holes drilled in the rock for the next blast, and the holes were aimed toward the South side.

To prevent injury, everyone had to wear hard hats – which was a really, really, really good idea since there was a low ceiling and I hit my head at least a dozen times. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take any photographs underground.

“Third Tunnel of Aggression” by Josh Berglund is licensed under CC-BY-2.0

Dora Observatory Post

This is a place where one can look toward North Korea from afar – but photos are not allowed past the yellow line for fear of being mistaken for sniper scopes. It’s pretty barren on that side. If only my camera could take a shot like the image I found on Wikipedia!

“The view of North Korea from Dora Observatory” by Josh Berglund is licensed under CC-BY-2.0

Dorasan Station

Dorasan Station is one of the few places one can actually go to Pyeongyang, at least before 2008. Our tour guide happened to be named Dora, so when we got to Dora Mountain she said, in her accented English, something like, “Look! This is my mountain!”

Lunch!

Lunch was a delicious mushroom and beef hotpot with kimchi, salad, and other delicious goodies on the side (if only I knew what I was eating)!

Outdoor Military Vehicle Display in Imginjak

Nothing much to say here – just a showcase of various military vehicles.

Back to Seoul

The tour lasted the full day. It began in Imginjak and ended at the Joint Security Area. We had dinner (more on that very “special” dinner in another post) in Myeongdong and spent the rest of the night walking around there.

Link to more photos: here

After years of diplomacy, the DPRK still continues to develop nuclear weapons (source).  The country even develops long range missiles that many fear will one day be nuclear missiles.  Yes, the UN wishes North Korea to halt their nuclear ambition, but even after so much foreign aid given to them in exchange for them to stop, nothing has changed.  North Korea agrees to halt their nuclear program, and then some time later they start again.

In 1994, as a part of the Agreed Framework, an agreement between North Korea and the United States, North Korea agreed to halt their production of plutonium in exchange for the construction of nuclear power reactors, oil, and economic support.  However, in 2002, because of construction delays in the construction of the power reactors, North Korea argues that the United States violated the agreement.  In December of 2002, North Korea pledges to reactivate its nuclear facilities.  In February, they announced that they reactivated their nuclear facilities, and in April they withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.  The accusation from North Korea shows that they had no intention to stop.  They looked for a reason to start their nuclear program back up again, and they found one. 

North Korea continues to perform nuclear tests (one in 2006 and one in 2009).  Although the international community condemns this nuclear test and tightened sanctions on the country, the DPRK continues its nuclear program.

Sanctions on the country do little to stop their nuclear program.  The sanctions simply prevent the country’s economic growth.  Sanctions hurt their citizens by preventing economic aid being sent into the country, and it’s no secret that poverty is rampant in North Korea.

As long as North Korea continues in its current course, the sanctions will stay.  Diplomacy can help alleviate this, but only if an agreement can be reached.  Six-party talks continue, with no favourable result.  This has gone on since the late 80’s/early 90’s.  It’s clear that North Korea has absolutely no intention to halt their nuclear ambition.  All people can do now wonder at what their next step will be.

Although this has been one of the most serious military clashes in the past year, this isn’t much different than what happened March, which was when a North Korean submarine allegedly sank a South Korean navy ship (more information here).  South Korea is attacked, but the country did nothing other than use strongly worded letters and speeches to declare how dangerous North Korea is and how they should be punished for their actions.  After the event today, it seems a similar response from South Korea is likely.

South Korea isn’t willing to fight a war with North Korea.  As much as South Korea wants them dealt with, it simply isn’t worth it.  The events of today are evident to show that if South Korea decides to make any move against the North, artillery strikes can easily strike targets in the South causing huge casualties and costly infrastructure damage.  South Korea doesn’t want that to happen.

The prevalent point of view of wars today is that casualties are unacceptable.  The War on Terror and the Iraq War support this.  Every now and then, the newspaper posts a story about how a brave soldier gave his or her life for their country.  People don’t like fighting wars that involve soldiers on their own side getting killed.  According to a poll done by Gallup, most people in the United States believed that sending troops to Iraq was not a mistake at the start of the Iraq War in 2003.  As time went on, casualties mounted.  War didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.  Support for the war dropped from 75% in 2003, to 41% in 2010 (source).  South Korea does not want to fight this war.  It isn’t about whether the South will win or lose.  It’s about casualties.  They know that if they fight this war, many South Koreans will die, and that is unacceptable.

Ever since the world wars, people learned not to no longer fight a war on such a large scale anymore.  Even in the Cold War, conflict on the scale of World War II was not seen.  People learned.  It still is the case now.  As stated before, many South Koreans will be killed.  On top of that, any country who is obligated to support either country would be putting their soldiers’ lives on the line as well.  North Korea controls an active army of 1.1 million, while South Korea controls an active army of 687 000 (source).  On the other hand, North Korea won’t declare war on the South either.   They too know that a war with the South would be very destructive for them.  An all out war would not be pretty.

Just by knowing the South isn’t going to declare war on the North, the only other response is diplomacy.  It’s what they’ve been doing since the signing of the armistice of the Korean War.  The end result: more strongly worded speeches and letters.  North Korea’s response to it: “We don’t care.”