The DMZ

I'll admit that this is the number 1 reason I've come to the ROK. It costs 46,000 won (51 AUD) for a half day tour but it's worth it. I'm picked up at 8:30 by Seoul City Tours and pay the tour guide Gemma (her Western name, she's a local).

We pick up more people so around 10 of us are travelling in a minibus. We all bring passports to make sure no spies are on board. I try to match my expression to my passport photo, but that scowling hurts my face if I do it for too long ☹

The first stop is the Imjingak Peace Park. It has a pretty park, souvenir shops of course and some views. I think we have around 25 minutes here, Gemma keeps us to a tight schedule. There are a number of monuments and statues here, see first 3 photos.

What comes through from the day is the desire for reunification within the ROK. However, relations between the two countries aren't great at the moment. The ROK started investing in a PRK industrial complex around 20 years ago but have discontinued that as the PRK were spending the revenue from the complex on their nuclear program.

There's also a lot of propaganda. We sit in a cinema and a video presentation takes us through the event timeline after WWII that leads to the Korean War. The video shows representations of 3 tunnels dug by the PRK into the ROK and discovered by the ROK in the 1970s.

We stop at a viewpoint that overlooks the border. A soldier comes on board the minibus to do a passport check. At the disembarkation point, there are viewers that allow a closer look at North Korea. I've taken some video as the PRK are broadcasting propaganda music (an antidote to KPop). I take a photo for a Peruvian couple and they reciprocate.

Part of the tour includes walking down tunnel 3, which is our next port of call. This apparently will take us down 25 stories (which we then have to walk up) so it takes some time. A ramp takes us down, then there is a reasonably level walk through the tunnel. We're wearing safety helmets as the tunnel roof is quite low in parts. I bump my head once - general mirth from tourists coming the other way. Also, no phones or cameras allowed!

I power back up the ramp, it's a good cardio workout. This buys me some time to walk around some pretty gardens in the vicinity.

Our final DMZ stop is Dorasan station. Its of interest because it is the only INTERNATIONAL train station in the ROK. It is connected to the PRK train network but currently runs services to Seoul only. Should reunification take place, it will be part of the network that runs through Asia and Europe.

For sponsorship reasons, the tour makes a trip to a Ginseng Centre on the way back. It's all hard sell now! I used to take Korean Ginseng tablets back in the 90s but I have no idea if they were effective. So I don't purchase and head for the exit, which means going through the shop. Big entrance, little exit.

Finally some of us are dropped off at City Hall. We drive past a venue advertising the Fever Festival (broadcast by V Live). A huge queue of Kpop young folk are gathered. Its 2pm and I'm hungry 😩Read more