DMZ- Peace, Beauty and Hope

When I first thought of coming to South Korea I really didn’t know a great deal about South and North Korea. I knew North Korea was dangerous and had poor human rights for its citizens, but I honestly did not too much about its history and why the peninsula of Korea was divided. My only other experience of coming to a place where it was a divided nation was my summer spent in The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. With this past experience, I assumed the two Koreas were similar in their reasons for being divided. Simply put Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland split because the people of both countries deciding they had different religious beliefs and wanted to follow the government that had their similar belief. However, after doing some research before coming to Korea I learned it was a completely different reason for the separation of the countries here. Again, simply put, without going into great detail, it was because a difference in ideologies and beliefs that led Korea to a North and South. However, the people of Korea had no say in what Korea they resided in; it was purely based on where they lived at the time. North Korea today is run by a totalitarian, one party leader, where the government has complete control over every aspect of its people.
Here are a few things I have learned since coming to Korea about North Korea.

• It has been stated that North Korea has the worst human rights in the
world.
• North Korea has the 5th largest Army in the world and the world’s largest
standing Army. North Korea has the highest percentage of military personnel
per capita of any nation in the world, with approximately 1 enlisted soldier
for every 25 citizens.
• It is the most isolated country in the world. North Koreans have no access
to world news, computers, radios, television, etc.

When there have been North Koreans who make it to South Korea, they are always amazed by how South Korea life actually is. In North Korea they are told living conditions are even worse in the South and they are fortunate to be in North. South Korea has progressed in its economy and way of life at a fast rate since the 50’s and it is nowhere near the same country people would have remembered when it was a unified peninsula.

Knowing all this ahead of time before I actually went to the DMZ was what made the whole experience so surreal and disturbing. Tours of the DMZ include any number of tunnels that the North Koreans built to attack the South. I had a chance to go into two of the tunnels. It is incredible how long and wide these tunnels are and the South Korean government believes there are more tunnels being built and constructed daily. Tours also take you to numerous viewing spots where you can see North Korea and its capital. You can’t take any pictures of the capital or even the closest parts of North Korea, so I have none to show. But I do have a few pictures from another viewing point where you can see North Korea in the distance. North Korea also set up a “town” to show from one of the viewpoints. This town is supposed to show a peaceful, prosperous country where life is good. Although everyone is aware it is a mock town and in actuality it is used for military to sleep in.
The actual area of the DMZ is beautiful. It is about 2 ½ miles wide and 151 miles long. Since no one inhabits this land, it is extremely persevered and absolutely breathtaking to view. There are many endangered animals that are able to be preserved on this land because it hasn’t been touched in over 50 years. This too is part of what is so disturbing about the whole experience. You are looking out onto some of the most amazing landscape you will ever see, and then realize it is only on the other side that people are experiencing the worst human rights in the world and have no freedom at all.

Along with many of the tours you go on you sit through various videos put on by the South Korean side of the DMZ. Again, these videos were surreal. It barely touched on the reason a DMZ was even needed and focused on the beauty of the area instead. And each one ended with the idea that one day it would be a unified peninsula again. The slogan all over the DMZ at each observation deck was “Peace, beauty and hope.” One thing I have learned over my 6 months in Korea is how Koreans don’t always acknowledge the real issues. Instead, much of Koreans pretend everything is just great, without trying to address and change real issues. This experience to the DMZ had that same feeling for me; that one day everything will be peaceful, but to achieve this peace no one is ever going to address the real issues.

While touring the DMZ I felt completely safe. It was quiet and calm, and at every check point the Korean military were happy to see us. They all seemed so young and bored just standing there. They would often wave at us from a distance. This too made you forget why you were there, until you see the constant land mine signs every two minutes, and then you remember why you are there and how it is potentially the scariest and most dangerous place in the world.