The Surreal and Very Real DMZ-Walking Into North Korea (With DMZ Facts/Figures)
My tour of the DMZ was perhaps the most surreal and fascinating part of my month long Asia trip. I took a USO tour through Koridoor Tours to Panmunjom, home of the JSA (Joint Security Area) in the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) at the border of South and North Korea. We were given a briefing by a U.S. military officer who gave us the history of the hostilities between the two countries and warned us not to gesture toward any North Korean soldiers should we see any. We could see the U.N Command soldiers, including some ROK (Republic of Korea) soldiers from South Korea. Some of them put half of their bodies behind the buildings to protect themselves in case they were fired upon from the North. We entered the MAC (Military Armistice Building) Conference Room where the two sides meet when they have talks. In the middle of the room is a conference table-half the table is in South Korea, half in North Korea. Once I passed that halfway point, I was standing in North Korea which I did for about 5 minutes-very surreal. When I got back to my hotel in Seoul, I heard on the radio that North Korea would attack South Korea in a few days and those threats continued for weeks.Please SUBSCRIBE to Andy's Awesome Adventures and enable All on the Subscribe bell icon. Thank you!