I’ve been reading with MUCH interest about the latest exchange between the two Koreas – what the papers would undoubtedly call a “souring of relations”.
The shelling and the drama. Hell, I wish I was back there.
Anyway, I just came back from Korea over the weekend and one of the more interesting places that we visited was the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) that separates South Korea from North Korea.
You can actually SEE North Korea from the border.
If you use the binoculars or if you have a really good zoom, you can even see the poor North Korean folks slaving away at the farms.
Part of the DMZ consists of a tunnel (one of many) that the industrious North Koreans built (or a ruse by South Korea, depending on your leanings and proclivities towards conspiracy theories).
We walked down one of the tunnels which was allegedly painstakingly dug from NK under the DMZ right smack dab into South Korea territory where they can march their formidable (but undoubtedly emaciated) troops through.
I can’t figure out how that can happen though coz when we walked through the tunnel I kept bumping my head (which was wisely equipped with a mandatory safety helmet) on the top of the route.
No one would call me a basketball player, I’m certainly not tall but I’ll be damned if it really was the North Koreans who built it.
It would take a lot of effort to transverse the distance with firearms with your head hitting the ceiling every meter or so.
I managed to sneak a couple of photos of North Korea while at the DMZ – it didn’t turn out well since security was tight and some people got their digicams checked, but I pulled it off.
Not that there’s anything to see anyway. :S
Well, I guess their prayers for peace didn’t work so well after all.