A Strange, Serious Game of Chess

There aren't any trees on the mountains.That was my first thought while looking across the Military Demarcation Line into North Korea from the Dora Observation Post yesterday afternoon. The landscape looked just like the landscape of South Korea, which makes sense since the boundary between the two countries is artificial. The most notable difference to me is that when I looked at the mountains in North Korea, the same low granite mountains as in the South, I didn't see any trees--pale green vegetation with rugged rocky outcrops but no trees. That was my first thought as I soaked in the view from the two-story picture window of the Dora Observation building. Our guide later stated that there were two explanations for the lack of trees: 1) people use wood for fuel, 2) the North Korean government doesn't want a place for defectors to hide. From the Dora Observation post, we could see Kijeong-dong, the uninhabited "Propaganda Village" with its oversized flag across the border. We could also see Kaeseong, home of the collaborative industrial area between North and South Korea.

Two visitors look across the DMZ toward Kijeong-dong, "Propaganda Village," in North Korea. Notice the oversized (160m high) flag pole in the center of the photo.With two of my colleagues at the Dora Observation Post:From the Dora Observation Post, we got back on the bus and visited the Third Infiltration Tunnel, a 1.7-kilometer tunnel, 73 meters underground,that was dug from the north to the south to be used in a military attack on Seoul. Black "coal" is painted on the bedrock walls, and when it was discovered by South Korea in 1978, North Korea claimed it was a coal mine. It was an interesting visit, and the small museum associated with the tunnel gave a decent brief overview of separation of the two countries. (Score 1 for EMH for correctly identifying granite, despite the black coal paint. Practical application of my geology course #1.)

From the tunnel, we got back on the bus for the most interesting part of the day, the tour to Panmunjeom, the Joint Security Area. It's a collection of buildings on the Military Demarcation Line and the only place in the DMZ where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. Our US Army guide was excellent, gave us a good overview and answered questions when he could. At the JSA, we were led out of the bus and into the Freedom House, which was originally designed to reunite separated family members but which North Korea has refused to use for fear that any North Koreans who went to the South Korean side would refuse to return.

From the Freedom House, we walked in two single-file lines into the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) Conference Room building, which sits squarely across the Military Demarcation Line, half in North Korea and half in South Korea with a door at each end of the building. The MAC Conference Room is where delegates from both sides can meet and communicate. In this photo, it's the blue building on the left. The building in the background is in North Korea.I was the first person in one of the lines, and our army guide told me to walk to the other end of the room, at which point I was on the North Korean side of the line. I looked straight out the window at North Korea and then at an angle at the line (a concrete block) and back at South Korea. That's North Korea out the window behind me in this photo.The door behind this guard opens into North Korea.This concrete slab marks the Military Demarcation Line, with North Korea to the left and South Korea to the right, as seen through a window in the MAC Conference Room.A South Korean soldier facing North Korea, as seen from a window in the MAC Conference Room.This South Korean soldier is guarding the United Nations flag inside the MAC Conference Room.We were then ushered back to the Freedom House steps where we could stand and take pictures of the buildings in the north. From where I was standing, I could see one North Korean military guard standing in front of the main building on the North Korean side of the line. There was also a guard inside the building looking through the window at us with binoculars, but I didn't see him until someone pointed him out to me when we took the bus past there again on our way out. You can see the North Korean soldier next to the door in this picture. The man with the binoculars was in the window to the left of the soldier.After visiting that part of the Joint Security Area, we went to a guard post from which we had a clear view of Kijeong-dong, "Propaganda Village."North Korea is behind me in the picture below. The white markers to the right of the picture indicate the Military Demarcation Line.We could also see the now-abandoned Checkpoint #3 and the area where two US Army officers were murdered in 1976 over the trimming of a poplar tree.Three days later, the tree was cut down during "Operation Paul Bunyan." The stump was left as a reminder until 1987 when it was replaced by the marker seen here. The photo was taken from the window of the bus when we drove around the area in front of Checkpoint #3.Also from the bus, we had a clear view of the Bridge of No Return, which was used to repatriate prisoners at the end of the Korean War. The Military Demarcation Line is halfway across the bridge.By far, this is one of the most interesting things I've done in the time I've been in Korea. The tour was well run and definitely worth the $44 (roughly 40,000 won). I would highly recommend this tour for anyone living in or visiting Korea. I feel like I have a better understanding of the country that has been my surrogate home for almost two years now. I also feel like I have a better understanding of the US military presence in South Korea, which is often a source of controversy in this country.

My final reflection at the end of the day was that it's really sad that this land, this people has been so hostilely divided for the past 54 years. It's sad that an artificial line on the ground serves as a mostly impenetrable wall between Koreans in the north and Koreans in the south, that you can see mountains in the distance but can't walk there, that you see the guards standing on the North Korean side but you're not allowed to have any communication with them, not even a nod. It's a strange, serious game of chess that's reached a stalemate, but the human pieces, unable to return to the box by themselves, have been left to stand. What does that North Korean soldier think when he looks back across the Military Demarcation Line at me? Does he see me as an enemy? Does he wish he were on my side of the line? He appeared to be about the same age as I am. Neither of us are old enough to have first hand memories of why things are the way they are. The memories that have been passed down to us, the histories that we've been taught keep us frozen on the chessboard. How long will that be? What will happen if the pieces are still standing when no one is left to remember how the game got started?

USO Korea--link to tour information. You'll need to make a reservation about two weeks in advance.