ToGo

I see thousand of Pictures on the Internet from the Boarder between Korea.
I ask me thousand of times what happened if someone (accentually) run over the N / S Boarder in or around the "Blue Buildings" ?
I know some DDR / D Videos where Solider, Pedestrians jump over the small fence to cross the boarder.
But what happened there? (and no i never would try it...)
Thanks

BuildingMyBento

In the blue buildings, you can walk between the two, but you can't - rather, you shouldn't - leave that building on the other side...

LapLap

What would happen?

Firstly, breaching the divide around the blue buildings is not something one would easily do "by accident".

What would happen would also depend on who you were, your nationality, which side you trespassed into, as well as by level of alert and a number of other political considerations relevant to that day (e.g. today there are shells being fired across the border and tensions are particularly high, unlikely you'd even get close.)

To see what has happened when a South Korean national breached the divide from North to South in the area between the blue buildings take a look:


The gentleman being rough housed and arrested had to travel to the North via China. There is no way any of the guards and security staff manning the South Side would have let him through, no possibility of pretending to stumble across the border by accident. If that is your concern - that you might create an international incident by being clumsy - you can dismiss it.

ToGo

i wonder why not more people try to get to the North/ South over the boarder to set a Statement.

Aventine

Get past the Taekwondo SK military police then you'll have a good ol' time at the Pyeongyang Hilton.

zippy the pinhead

The videos linked below give a decent idea of what it is like to tour Panmunjom from the South. While I suppose it is possible some nutter might make a break for the Nork side, my guess is that the ROK MPs and the American Army personnel probably train for that eventuality, and if someone made a sudden, suspicious movement, I would expect them to act, at least to tackle/restrain the person(s) before they got across. There are typically a couple of opportunities to make a break for it when you're at Panmunjom, though, so I suppose if someone was really determined, they could probably dash into Nork territory. What awaits them? Regardless of which side catches them, I would agree that they could expect to be detained, at least, but they could get shot by the Norks, and I would guess the forested area around Panmunjom is probably mined pretty heavily, so they might have that to look forward to, as well. But they don't allow you to go anywhere near the actual border from outside, so "accidentally" going over is hard to imagine, just as the "hat scene" from JSA is improbable.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was some screening that took place prior to the tour, as well, since they do require your passport number, etc., and I believe they verify the number is accurate prior to allowing a person to embark on the tour. Presumably they screen out some they believe to be potentially troublesome.

Based on what our US Army guide said, the first video is far more representative of the typical experience than the second one (where the Norks come down to the border at around 3:00 in). He told our group that since the Norks had installed cameras, it was not so common to see their soldiers come down to the border, at least in his experience. The video linked in the previous post is atypical, in that the situation was clearly staged/managed by the Norks, and the useful idiot who crossed for their cameras was obviously anticipated.

zippy the pinhead

BTW, below is the hat scene from JSA.

On a somewhat related note, there was a firefight between US/ROK forces and Nork forces back in 1984 when a Russian man defected to the west from the Nork side.

ToGo

Why does the "Freedom Activist" dont use Mobile Radios, Jammer, Micro UKW Transmitter (on Ballons),... to smuggle information to the North?

I know there is a gap between the "rich" People who want to chance anything and the other who looking for there daily income.

zippy the pinhead

I don't know if it is true any longer, but when I was in Seoul in the early 1990's, on certain radio frequencies (AM/FM frequencies), one could hear a rhythmic, nonsensical sound at all times. I asked about this and was told it was possible I was hearing a Nork jammer, which the North Korean government used to keep Norks close to the DMZ from listening to radio broadcasts from South Korea. So far as I understand, radios sold openly in North Korea can only be tuned to certain frequencies, another deterrent to keep Norks from getting any information from outside of the country.

These days, I have read that Norks favor thumb drives with (illegal in North Korea) South Korean TV shows and movies recorded on them. A lot of that comes into North Korea from China.

Regarding the mentality of the average Nork, I had a friend who was a Soviet Jew, who left mother Russia in the 1980's, while he was in his 50s. As an aside once, he told me that the mentality of someone who has grown up under Communism is very difficult for the mind of the westerner, who grew up in freedom, to understand. The person accustomed to life in a communist country depends on the state for everything, including their world view. In other words, videos of Norks weeping and mourning over the death of a monster like Kim Jong Il may not be as insincere as western viewers might think. Obviously some are aware of reality, but as I understand it, the North Korean government supplies two main motivators to keep the elite toeing the line: severe punishment (deserved or not) for infractions, plus fear of losing their some-animals-are-more-equal-than-others lifestyle (privileges).*

If a Nork soldier tried to cross into the south, I'm sure the other Norks would 1) try to kill him, and regardless of whether they succeed or not, 2) round up his whole extended family for labor camps and/or execution.

*This, BTW, is the main reason I don't believe the Norks are serious about warring against the ROK. While they could certainly do massive damage to the South, they know that ultimately China will not support them as before, and when they lose, as they inevitably will, the elite will no longer be able to enjoy their better-than-average lives. The Norks have no real interest in war; they only wish to create tension which can be exploited.

Aventine

Yeah, I mean they setup a "war" deadline to attack when USFK and the Korean army are doing exercises and have the most troops in country. Real smart

JordanWalker

Any up to date recommendation for DMZ tours?

Daxiuyi

Check the other thread in the forum:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/korea...dmz-tours.html

Aventine

USO tour if you can snag a spot.

JordanWalker

I decided to branch off and started that thread as I realized it wasn't quite in line with this thread's original topic.