A visit to Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea
I have always been fascinated by North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), as it’s officially called.
Not that I sympathise with everything the regime does in any way, but rather for it being one of the last real communist countries in the world and for the completely different way of life in the country, with some obvious pros and cons for sure.
Pyongyang is on top of my list of cities I would like to visit, it has been very interesting to read the trip reports on Flyertalk from people who have visited DPRK, like Swanhunter for example. Although as it looks now a visit to Pyongyang is realistically not going to happen anytime soon.
However a much more accessible place is Panmunjom located in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North Korea and South Korea, 53 km north of Seoul.
It is impossible to get there on your own due to the heavy military presence, but there are organised tours from Seoul so I booked a seat on one of those tours.
Other than my interest in history and politics I had a more personal reason for wanting to visit Panmunjom. My grandfather was stationed there in the late 50’s as a UN officer and he told me a lot about his experiences there before he passed away. I have also seen many photos from the area that he took.
For most western nationalities getting a seat on the tour is quite easy, basically just to book a seat up to one day in advance by sending an e-mail with name and passport details to the tour company and then show up in the morning with the valid passport.
For some other nationalities, including nationals of some Asian and Middle Eastern countries and countries of the former Soviet Union, applications for the tour has to be made at least 7 days in advance.
There is also a dress code on the tour. No faded or torn jeans (preferably no jeans at all), no leather pants, no shorts, no sleeveless tops, no training pants, no slippers, and no military style attire.
The tour company will refuse anyone to board the bus who does not comply with the dress code. The tour guides checked our attire before departure from Seoul and in fact when entering the DMZ the military personnel checked both our clothes and shoes quite thoroughly.
Final rule is that you are not allowed to be intoxicated when joining the tour, not sure who would start the day by having booze at 7 am, but maybe that has happened in the past?!
The tour departed at 8.30 am from Lotte Hotel in central Seoul.
The drive to the first military checkpoint took about 90 minutes including a short stop for coffee.
There were two military checkpoints on the way to Panmunjom, each time a solider boarded the bus and checked passports and I also think they checked the baggage hold to verify we were not bringing anything dangerous or prohibited into the military zone.
The closer we got to Panmunjom the more rules there were to follow. Absolutely no use of cameras or video cameras, this was extended to no pointing or waving, which was finally extended to not being allowed to stand up in the bus.
Some of these rules were rather extreme and probably in reality unnecessary, but I guess they just wanted full control of the people they brought inside the DMZ and wanted to avoid anything even remotely close to an incidence.
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Introduction in the tour bus of what to expect during the day and the rules we had to follow
After the two military checkpoints we stopped at the DMZ visitors centre.
Inside the building a short presentation was made about the DMZ, the history of the conflict and the current situation. All visitors also had so sign a document confirming we would follow the visitor rules set out by the United Nations. We also received a UN visitor badge that we had to wear during the visit.
Back outside we boarded a military bus with an American UN soldier standing in the front of the bus keeping an eye on us.
The only thing we were allowed to bring on the military bus was a camera. Other than that no loose items whatsoever, not even a camera case. Even wallets and purses had to be left in the tour bus unless they would fit in a pocket.
The tour guides, UN military and at the end the North Koreans were to have no doubts we were just tourists bringing nothing that could cause suspicion or pose a threat to anyone. Even an empty camera case could actually contain something else, a bomb for example.
A short drive on the military bus and we arrived at the joint security area of the DMZ. All movements within the area had to be either by military bus or walking in two lines directed by a UN soldier.
Panmunjom was a surprisingly calm and peaceful place, you could definitely not feel you were inside a military zone between two countries administratively still at war.
However there is now an agreement between the two countries limiting the number of soldiers each country is allowed to have within the DMZ, about 30 soldiers if I remember correctly.
This means it’s easier to keep track of what the other country is doing within the zone and avoid any unnecessary military mobilisation.
We visited the conference building where most talks between the two countries take place. The border between North and South actually goes right through the building, right through a conference table, but visitors can move freely within the building meaning I have technically been on North Korean soil for about two minutes.
Afterwards we visited the Freedom house, originally a tower where you get a pretty nice overview of the DMZ. Nowadays there is also a much more modern building also called Freedom house and the plan and wish is that North Korean and South Korean families should use the building to reunite in the future.
From the tower we got a good view of the buildings in the area, including Panmungak, the command post of the North Korean guard force. We were also allowed to take photos from there but absolutely not wave or point as these gestures could be used as propaganda by the North Koreans, they sometimes take photos of visiting westerns.
It was a strange experience to take photos of the grey North Korean building on the other side of the border where a North Korean guard in strict military uniform was looking at me through binoculars. Very strange!
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The famous conference room. The table is actually the border between North and South, so technically I am standing on North Korean soil
A South Korean soldier in front of the door leading to North Korea, they told us he is standing there for our safety
The border between North and South clearly marked on the ground outside the conference building
Good overview of the joint security area, the conference buildings and Panmungak of North Korea
A North Korean soldier looking at me through binoculars from Panmungak, the command post of Korean People‘s Army at DMZ
Our last stop was an observation post a short drive away by bus.
From there we had a very good view of North Korea including the village Kijong-dong, also known as Peace Village in the North and Propaganda Village in the South.
According to South Korea nobody lives there, it’s just a way to show North Korea is more prosperous than is really the case. The rather nice-looking blue buildings actually don’t have real windows, it’s just black paint. Have a look and judge yourself based on the photo below!
I asked the tour guide how they can really know that and she said that for example when it’s time to harvest the farmers always arrive by bus or trucks. If the village was actually populated most people living there would probably be farmers and those buses and trucks would thus not be needed.
The village also has the world’s largest flagpole measuring 160 meters. It was created during a flagpole war between the two countries, South Korea has a rather impressive flag as well close to the border, but it is only 100 meters high.
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The North Korean “Propaganda village“ with its huge 160 meter high flagpole. Do you agree the buildings look fake?
From the observation post we could also see glimpses of the Bridge of no return, which was used to exchange people between the two countries (who were not allowed to return after making the decision of where to live, hence the name).
There was a rather serious incidents here in 1976 when a few American and South Korean soldiers were killed when trying to cut down trees to get a better view of the border.
Visitors are no longer allowed to visit the area around the bridge freely, one reason is that the bridge is outside of the regulated military zone, so nobody knows how much military presence North Korea has on the other side of the bridge.
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The bridge of no return, no longer fully accessible due to an incident in 1976
Another interesting fact the guide mentions is how one can easily distinguish North Korean territory from South Korean territory (if there are no visible flags, barbed wires etc).
After the Korean war there was a great need of trees that were to be used for anything from heating to rebuilding houses and infrastructure, consequently a huge number of trees in both countries were cut down for these purposes.
However the South Koreans realised they needed to do something about that, or there would not be any vegetation left in South Korea for future generations. A tree planting day was introduced which takes place on April 5th every year. However in the North there was no such focus, and even if there was there probably were not enough funds to introduce such a project.
Hence when looking into North Korea the hills and mountains are surprisingly bare, in contrast to South. According to our guide most trees that have been planted in the North are there to hide military facilities and equipment.
I don’t know how easy it is see the difference of vegetation between the two countries on the photos, but it was quite apparent during the visit.
The visit to Panmunjom was very interesting, definitely one of the strangest but most rewarding day tours I have taken.
It was a bit hard to judge how serious the situation really was at the DMZ. Were all those rules really necessary in such a calm and peaceful place? Or were they just there to make the tour a bit more exciting?
Fortunately nobody decided to check that out, we all did what we were told which was the only wise thing to do resulting in a completely problem-free visit.
The English-speaking tour guide was very friendly and charming and gave lots of interesting information about the place and I took the opportunity to ask several questions.
She told me what most South Koreans want more than anything is for the countries to be reunited again as a huge number of families were split up after the war.