12 August, Seoul

A solo trip to the DMZ today as the dreaded travel stomach bug has struck again.

The day started out just as miserable as yesterday (in more ways than one for one of us), but things improved slightly as the day wore on. The DMZ pickup was at a subway exit, so it was with some trepidation that I waited in the rain for the pickup but, as with most arrangements in Asian countries, it all worked out in the end. The tour group was a mix of an English speaking tour and a Japanese group, so some of the history that was discussed could have been a little sensitive for those Japanese who could understand English.

Our trip through the suburbs and out on the motorway to the DMZ was a little eye-popping. Korea’s infrastructure is just so new! Everything is clean and, mostly, efficient. Hundreds of high-rise apartment blocks line the suburban streets and, from the highway, clusters of scores more can be seen in the distance.

I’ll condense the history lesson here, but our guide, Erica, was well informed and able to answer any questions that our diverse group threw at her. The Japanese were driven out of Korea at the end of the war. At this time the whole peninsula was, to some degree, left to flounder. The coming of the Cold War era of tensions between the USSR and the West brought things to a head for the people of Korea. China and the USSR decided to take control of Korea, much to the chagrin of the West, particularly the USA.

To cut the story short, the Korean War broke out in 1950 when the North, supported by China, invaded the South and quickly took most of the country. The US mounted a mission, supported by the UN, landing troops at Incheon. After three years and more than 3 million civilian deaths, the war reached a stalemate and an armistice was reached, creating the DMZ, a strip of land 4kms wide running the entire width of the peninsula. Seventy years on, there is no peace treaty and Korea today is still a divided country.

So, about the DMZ itself. Interesting, but just too touristy. Nothing really to see, but hearing all the histories and stories from a Korean perspective was very interesting. Would I recommend it? No. Read a good history book.