![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Off to bed shortly. Need to wake up early tomorrow morning; my tour guide is collecting me from my accommodations as 07:30. Before I sleep, however, I have a few thoughts about tomorrow that I want to write down beforehand. May be interesting to compare after the fact.
I've been in Korea for three days so far. I'm having a great trip. I have toured Royal Palaces (particularly Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung); I have visited the Royal Shines (Jongmyo). I have seen the Presidential residence (Cheongwadae, the "Blue House") and strolled through an astounding garden (Huwon) and ridden a cable car up the mini-mountain of Namsan to look out from the observation deck of N Seoul Tower. I hope to write a travelogue, complete with pictures, about all of this -- and more -- when I get back to Oxford.
Tomorrow is my last full day for this trip to Korea. Being me, there is a fair bit left that I want to do here in and around Seoul. First and foremost, though, is the tour that I leave on in about six hours -- a visit to Panmunjom, the Joint Security Area in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.[*]
Last March, I spent five days in Berlin. I remember visiting the mock-up of Checkpoint Charlie and thinking about what it must have been like in the old days, when it was the only crossing point between the "American sector" of West Berlin and the "Soviet sector" of East Berlin. I think that tomorrow I am about to find out.
Actually, the similarities between the two are quick striking when one thinks about it. The two halves of Berlin came about because the Western Allies and the Soviets split the city between them after World War II; the two halves of Korea came about because the Americans and the Soviets split the country between them after World War II. Tis true that Germany had been an aggressor nation, whilst Korea had been an occupied land for decades before the war. Even so, the long-standing split was mainly the result of nascent Cold War politics coming into play as WWII wound down.
Of course, Germany has been reunified for decades now, with the Communist GDR (East Germany) dissolving and joining the Capitalist FRG (West Germany). In contract, the Communist DPRK (North Korea) is still going strong, and still at odds with the Capitalist ROK (South Korea). Thus, the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom -- Korea's "Checkpoint Charlie" -- is still in full swing.
I suspect that this is going to be a very interesting experience tomorrow. Technically, there is the possibility of injury or death -- I will be up against the North Korean border with armed DPRK soldiers present. There have been incidents at the JSA, like in 1984, when a Soviet citizen -- on tour from the North -- ran across the border to defect. That said, approximately 100,000 tourists per year visit the JSA, and the overwhelming majority of tours experience nothing unusual. Despite having to sign a form acknowledging that I am entering a war zone and could be injured or killed, I'm not really worried. It's true that I have never actually been in a war zone before. On the other hand, I have had to sign similar forms before jumping out of a plane (minus the part about the war zone). No, I'm thinking that the experience will be a nice counterpart to last year's visit to Checkpoint Charlie... and that the two should bookend each other nicely. Will almost certainly provide me with some good food for thought on the long plane ride home.
[*] Ironically enough, the Korean "Demilitarized Zone" is the most militarily fortified border on the planet.
I've been in Korea for three days so far. I'm having a great trip. I have toured Royal Palaces (particularly Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung); I have visited the Royal Shines (Jongmyo). I have seen the Presidential residence (Cheongwadae, the "Blue House") and strolled through an astounding garden (Huwon) and ridden a cable car up the mini-mountain of Namsan to look out from the observation deck of N Seoul Tower. I hope to write a travelogue, complete with pictures, about all of this -- and more -- when I get back to Oxford.
Tomorrow is my last full day for this trip to Korea. Being me, there is a fair bit left that I want to do here in and around Seoul. First and foremost, though, is the tour that I leave on in about six hours -- a visit to Panmunjom, the Joint Security Area in the Korean Demilitarized Zone.[*]
Last March, I spent five days in Berlin. I remember visiting the mock-up of Checkpoint Charlie and thinking about what it must have been like in the old days, when it was the only crossing point between the "American sector" of West Berlin and the "Soviet sector" of East Berlin. I think that tomorrow I am about to find out.
Actually, the similarities between the two are quick striking when one thinks about it. The two halves of Berlin came about because the Western Allies and the Soviets split the city between them after World War II; the two halves of Korea came about because the Americans and the Soviets split the country between them after World War II. Tis true that Germany had been an aggressor nation, whilst Korea had been an occupied land for decades before the war. Even so, the long-standing split was mainly the result of nascent Cold War politics coming into play as WWII wound down.
Of course, Germany has been reunified for decades now, with the Communist GDR (East Germany) dissolving and joining the Capitalist FRG (West Germany). In contract, the Communist DPRK (North Korea) is still going strong, and still at odds with the Capitalist ROK (South Korea). Thus, the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom -- Korea's "Checkpoint Charlie" -- is still in full swing.
I suspect that this is going to be a very interesting experience tomorrow. Technically, there is the possibility of injury or death -- I will be up against the North Korean border with armed DPRK soldiers present. There have been incidents at the JSA, like in 1984, when a Soviet citizen -- on tour from the North -- ran across the border to defect. That said, approximately 100,000 tourists per year visit the JSA, and the overwhelming majority of tours experience nothing unusual. Despite having to sign a form acknowledging that I am entering a war zone and could be injured or killed, I'm not really worried. It's true that I have never actually been in a war zone before. On the other hand, I have had to sign similar forms before jumping out of a plane (minus the part about the war zone). No, I'm thinking that the experience will be a nice counterpart to last year's visit to Checkpoint Charlie... and that the two should bookend each other nicely. Will almost certainly provide me with some good food for thought on the long plane ride home.
[*] Ironically enough, the Korean "Demilitarized Zone" is the most militarily fortified border on the planet.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
We didn't get up to Panmunjom during our time in Korea and I do wish we had. Looking forward to hearing about your experience!
The DMZ is pretty cool, given how untouched that land has been for so long. It's a tremendous natural wildlife preserve, even though that wasn't the intention when it was created! I do know that many Koreans have said that if they ever do reunify, they'll keep most of the DMZ as is, wild. Which I think would be a wonderful thing.