Seoul 2

So, this day started with my going with Dad to the opening ceremonies for the International Hospital Convention. I was concerned that there wouldn't be any real opening festivities after listening to many, many congratulatory speeches from various dignitaries, but then my patience was rewarded with a terrific drum show. There were four young women and one young men who were really going to town on some wall mounted drums and then some regular drums. It was incredible - the energy. I can't describe it - you should have been here.

That afternoon, we went as a group to tour the DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone, between North and South Korea. It was established after World War II when Korea was liberated from Japan. I943, the Cairo Convention liberated Korea, and then in 1945, when Japan surrendered, the Russians took their surrender above the 38th parallel and the US below the 38th parallel. Korea was happy to be liberated from Japan, but they opposed the idea of a UN trusteeship. The Korean problem was one of the first brought before the newly created United Nations. North Korea refused to cooperate with the idea of a trusteeship. Russia was working hard to implant their ideology there. In 1948, South Korea elected their president and North Korea had their own dictator.

The DMZ is a four kilometer area which divides the two countries. It consists of 2 kilometers above the demarcation line and 2 kilometers below it. It occupies 1% of the land mass of the country. More than 1 million land mines were planted there. They have been working to remove them, but there are still more than 600,000. As you drive along the road, there are signs indicating that the area that is paved is safe, but outside it is not. We stayed on the pavement.

4:00 a.m. on Sunday 25, 1950, North Korea, with the backing of the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea which percipitated the Korean War. The UN asked for help and the US responded along with five other nations. There is a statue honoring President Truman for his support. General McArthur led our troups. More than 2 million Koreans died during the war. At a memorial honoring the Americans who served and died between 1950 and 1953, it said that the US suffered 142,091 losses: 33,629 deaths, 103,284 wounded, and 5,178 missing. The ceasefire was signed in 1953.

In 1975, a defector told the South Koreans that the North Korean army was building inflitration tunnels beneath the demilitarized zone. The North apparently stopped digging when they learned of his defection, but started again in 1978. Because of pressure that was created during the digging, they found what they call the Third Infiltration Tunnel (they have found 3 others and think there are perhaps as many as 20). The third is the largest they have found. It started in Gaeseong City and is 1.7 kilometers long. It took 10 years to build and is big enough for fully equipped soldiers to make their way through. When the North Koreans realized they had been discovered, they tried to claim that it was really a copper mine (there is no copper in the area) and that the South had dug it. We walked down in it for quite a ways. The decline is 11% - walking back up was more difficult. It was quite an experience. I concentrated on keeping myself calm so I wouldn't be claustrophobic.

At this site, there is also a monument honoring 18 South Korean diplomats and soldiers who were killed at Rangoon in Burma by a North Korean terrorist. There is also an Altar for Longing for Home where South Korean families come to make offerings for their family members in North Korea whom they think may be dead.

There is a real movement toward unication of the two countries. Our guide explained to us the other day that much of the impetus behind it is a desire for greater security and power. If the two countries were united they would have much more power in relation to both China and Japan. In a recent survey, though, 60% of college students don't think it should happen.

Other things that I hope I have gotten right. We saw tank traps set up along the road which connects the two countries. They are large concrete slabs above the road that can be blown up to block the road way. There are 8 or 9 of them. In 1989, a man named Huyandai, I think, went to North Korea across the Unification Bridge with 1,001 cows. When he had fled the north, he had taken the money from selling his father's northern cow and used it to start a small rice shop. He had been very successful and in 1989 he decided to return the cow with interest - 1000 cow interest.

We boarded buses which took us into the DMZ and to the tunnel. We had to show our passports to the military guard. We drove across the Unification Bridge into the Civilian Restricted Area. There is a Freedom Villagethere where 500 people live. We went to an observation tower whic is on a hill which is 155 meters high to look over the area. The North has a village which the South calls the Propaganda Village which is directly across from the Freedom Village. Noone lives there (they send up smoke in the morning to make it look inhabited), it is just to counter the South's village. They have set up a free enterprise zone in Gaeseong City where the South Koreans work through which trade happens. Park wasn't too happy about the South Korean money which is being spent in the North.

We also saw Dorasan Station, a train station that has been built with the plan that it will be part of connecting the South and the North and creating a railroad to Manchuria and beyond. People have bought railroad ties to contribute to the construction. It is a very modern station which is now the northern end of the line but with the hope that it will be the southern point in the future. Park's take is that the North has been too concerned about their nuclear issue to have worked very intently on this rail line, although it does go north.

So... I think that is it. I need Dad to read this and help check for accuracy. There won't be any pictures of this area because it is restricted and no pictures are allowed (actually I asked him to take a picture of a fascinating sculpture than depicts the effort for unification. We forgot about the no picture policy, and noone stopped him. I hope we'll be able to get out of the country).

The bus ride back was long mostly because Seoul is huge - 10 million people - and the traffic was awful.