(Plaque for this monument on next footprint.)

"Peace Statue" commemorating Korean girls abducted by the Japanese army in WW2 as 'comfort women'.

The only way you can be silly around the North Koreans.

A real village in the DMZ. Symbolic reminder.

Interesting (local) overview: the creation of the Village starting w/ the Korean War (beg.1960)

Barbed wire & cameras abound near the endpoints of the DMZ.

And all along the river is a double-walled fence with guard towers ensuring no one crosses over.

For dinner we went to a Vietnamese place; the (edible) rice paper wrap was new to us!

The Demilitarized Zone

October 23, 2025 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

Okay, this was a little anticlimactic but still interesting.
Before entering the DMZ, 2 border guards boarded our bus asking to see passports (and again on departure). And we were strictly prohibited from taking pictures within the tunnel area and anywhere at all in the direction of 'north'.

We also got to see a bit of the 'Unification Village' (Korean name: Tongil Chan). It's a real village near the DMZ -- a peaceful farming village with special rules (eg. children born in the village must attend school outside the village) & apparently a very strict curfew (it seems you could be shot if out past curfew). But residents have adapted. The area serves as a symbolic reminder of the hope for Korean unification.Read more