The Star: June 15, 2017

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Thursday June 15 2017 37
Travel
DMZ – where tourism and terror collide
• By Mike Yardley
IT’S THE racket blasting from
the loudspeakers that is still
ringing in my ears.
From the south, soaring operatic
ballads and K-Pop are belted
out, while from the north, a mix
of angry sermons and bombastic
propaganda songs salute the Dear
Leader.
Galloping across the
countryside for 250km, with
a 2km-wide buffer zone either
side of the border, the razor wire
stretches into infinity. I joined a
DMZ day-trip from Seoul, which
is a mere 50km drive away from
the border.
As we drove towards the great
divide, either side of the highway
was laced with elaborate reams
of razor wire, while manned
military look-outs studded the
roadside, in full battle readiness.
Within the buffer zone, tank
traps and land mines stalk the
countryside. My guide, Moon,
remarked there’s an estimated
two million land mines still in
the DMZ from the Korean War –
after a million have already been
cleared.
Panmunjeom is where the
armistice agreement was signed
in 1953. You’ll recognise those
United Nations-blue buildings,
the site of the world’s most
famous face-off, where South and
North Korean soldiers stare interminably
at each other through
sunglasses.
In spite of the macho sense of
theatre, the air hangs heavy with
unblinking hostility. All DMZ
tours begin at Imjingak, which
HISTORY: The infiltration tunnels aren’t for the faint-hearted. You can walk underground into the north. Right – Dorasan Station
was built to connect Seoul with Pyeongyang. It is largely unused.
features a variety of monuments
in memory of the Korean War.
An 83m bridge, used in the exchange
of 13,000 POWs, is lauded
as the Freedom Bridge.
Nearby, the blasted carcass of
an original steam locomotive,
which desperately made it back
across the Imjin River just as war
broke out, riddled with the scars
of 1020 bullet holes.
Imjingak is also the entry point
into the Third Infiltration Tunnel,
the biggest of four tunnels identified
by the South Koreans since
1974, although there’s apparently
another 20 that haven’t been
spotted yet. Dug by the North
Koreans with the intent of being
able to spring a surprise invasion
on the south, these tunnels aren’t
for the faint-hearted.
Issued with a hard hat, the third
infiltration tunnel leads you 73m
underground, along a 2m wide
by 2m high passage. I felt like the
hunchback of Notre Dame, but
it’s a searing and slightly spooky
encounter to traverse the border,
subterranean-style.
This tunnel, which is large
enough to enable 30,000 soldiers
to tromp through in an hour, was
discovered in 1978 after a defector
tipped off the south.
Another striking stop was
Dorasan Station, a $40 billion
beacon of hope, built 15 years
ago with a view of re-connecting
Seoul and Pyeongyang by rail.
Just 700m from the southern
boundary line of the DMZ, it’s
utterly bizarre to admire this
sparkling yet haplessly underused
train station.
The shiny international customs
hall has never screened a
passenger. A few daily services
run to Seoul, but services to the
North have been on ice since
the North Koreans slammed the
border crossing shut in 2008.
Should Korea be re-united,
Moon says the dream is Dorasan
Station would not only connect
Seoul with Pyeongyang,
but would connect with the vast
Eurasian services like the Trans-
Siberian.
The undeniable highlight was
soaking up the raw cross-border
drama of Dora Observatory.
This lookout serves up the most
intimate view of the north, from
South Korea, as if you can reach
out and touch it, while being assaulted
by those blaring loudspeakers.
With the naked eye, I gazed
down at the streams of barbed
wire along the border, across into
North Korean villages. With the
mounted binoculars, I could see
locals wandering around and a
massive statue of Kim Il-sung,
while the Propaganda Village
touts one of the tallest flags in
the world.
In a classic case of boys will be
boys, the south and north have
played ping-pong for years over
their respective border flagpoles.
The south started the tussle by
erecting a 50m-high flag. Back
and forth they went, outdoing
one another, until the north triumphed
in this battle of attrition,
mounting a 160m-high flagpole.
The flag alone weighs a whopping
300kg. The south threw in
the towel at 110m. The Propaganda
Village is so named because it’s
widely believed that the brightly
coloured buildings are just shells
and are uninhabited.
Even Hollywood would be
left blushing at the sheer scale of
this elaborate set. For me, that
summed up the weirdness of the
DMZ.
A strange, surreal, unsettling
place, where terror and tourism
collide, at one of the world’s flash
points.
INTRIGUE: The blasted carcass of a steam locomotive, riddled with more than 1000 bullet holes. Centre – The Freedom Bridge
and border fortifications. Right – The joint security area where soldiers face-off.
FAST FACTS
•In spite of the current crisis,
day trips from Seoul to
the DMZ remain fiendishly
popular. Every day, 5000
visitors are allowed access
to the buffer zone, while
500 people can also enter
the joint security area at
Panmunjeom. Book well in
advance. www.vviptravel.
com
Spend $10 at
a participating
airport outlet
during June
for your chance
to win.*
*For more details, go to
eatshopwinatrip.co.nz