Into the North

Perhaps the coolest thing we did while my parents were in Korea was our trip to the DMZ. I might write more about it later, but I'm still fighting off a cold so I thought I'd just post a few photos to complement Meg's post below. These three are from our trip into the Demilitarized Zone (and even North Korea itself).


We're virtually on the boarder of North Korea here. Basically everything behind us is North Korea. To the left of the photo you can see a blue station and a bridge. The Bridge is known as the "Bridge of No Return" because after the war when they were returning POW and displaced people some were allowed to choose what country they wanted the live in. However, once they crossed the bridge (on either side) they could never go back to the other side.


This is basically the same view as the photo above. However this time you can make out a tower shape between my parents. This is actually a flag pole with the North Korean flag on it.

During the 1980s, the South Korean government built a 98.4 metre (328 ft) tall flagpole on their side of the boarder. The North Korean government responded by building a taller one — the tallest in the world at 160 metres (525 ft). It's actually hard to see the flag because it is so large that it requires quiet a heavy wind to move it and make it clearly visible.


Inside the DMZ, is a place called Panmunjeom, home of the Joint Security Area (JSA); it is the only place where North and South connect.

There are several buildings on both the north and the south side of the MDL (The Military Demarcation Line), and a few which are built right on top of the MDL. The Joint Security Area is the location where all negotiations since 1953 have been held.

The MDL goes through the conference rooms and down the middle of the conference tables where the North Koreans and the United Nations Command meet face to face.

In this photo we're inside that building where the meetings take place. My parents are actually standing in North Korea in this photo. The guard is a South Korean guard and he is standing on the official boarder between the two countries.