I learned how to make my kids stop talking!! The answer isn’t asking nicely or yelling at them or even threatening detention. Today I began class with “I went to North Korea this weekend” and their mouths dropped open. The silence was a beautiful thing. Then I explained, of course, that I went to the Demilitarized Zone between the two countries and that I wasn’t actually in North Korea...I was just between the North and South.
I’d been putting the trip off since I got here six months ago, with the hopes of my grandpa coming to visit me and going there together (since he was stationed here during the Korean War). He doesn’t appear to be making moves on that though, so I decided to just go ahead and it really was an incredible day.
We walked on the Freedom Bridge (which my grandpa had showed me pictures of from when he was here), went through some of the tunnels that North Korea built after the war (fortunately, I’m the same size as the malnourished North Koreans so I, unlike everyone else, didn’t have to duck to walk through them), looked across the borders from observation decks with telescopes (to see Koreans biking –since they don’t have cars– and to see nothing when it was the “propaganda villages” that they built to make themselves look “prosperous” after the war), and went into some really cool museums.
The whole experience was very strange because the atmosphere at the DMZ is so oxymoronic. Soldiers from both sides are on high alert all the time, ready for war to break out, even though there have been 21,399 days of peace so far (the South Koreans have a count-up on display). We were having a good time and the South Korean soldiers were all very nice but they often reminded us of what would and would not possibly provoke the soldiers across the border to shoot us. The two countries are at peace and it’s safe enough for civilians to hang out there, yet there is the possibility of immense danger breaking out at any time. The land there is beautiful and unpolluted but much of it is still riddled with land mines and dynamite. We saw two carnival-looking places there (why? I don't know...) but they were desolate; just the old rides and no people (it looked like something out of a scary movie). The two countries are supposed to have a truce, yet there are tunnels that the North Koreans secretly built in order to sneak-attack South Korea. The North Koreans obviously take the whole thing very seriously, while the South Koreans use it as a tourist attraction.
The most interesting thing I learned about yesterday was how amazing the South Koreans’ attitude is. They remain forgiving and very hopeful, even though the end of this situation does not necessarily appear to be in sight. South Koreans write messages and prayers for their families trapped in North Korea and post them on the Freedom Bridge. They celebrate every day of peace and, among the memorials for their war heroes, there is a giant bell that would be heard all the way across the border in North Korea if rung. The soldiers explained to us that they plan to ring it when the two countries officially reunite.
Even though it is a sad situation, it seems that everyone here makes the best of it so we did too! We got North Korean stamps on our passports, played on the tanks and monuments (though I’m not sure we were necessarily supposed to do that), and laughed a lot. I learned so much and I’m grateful that I was able to go. I had to settle for buying my Grandpa a hat but I sincerely hope that he can come here to visit me sometime over the next few years.
My friends & me at the DMZ
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