Korean DMZ

I didn't know much about korean demilitiraized zone - DMZ. I also did not know that there were tunnels below the DMZ, created by North Korea.

We went there - I was curious to see it with my own eyes. I could not believe that since 1950 this great country was divided, and it is still divided, and basically South and Korea are still at war.

I also did not know about the tunnels - so far there are 4 of them discovered, but who knows if there are more of them. North Korea built them, so they could capture Seoul, and the last one was discovered in 1990. The closest one to Seoul is the 3rd tunnel, only 52 km from the city, and it was open in 2004 as a tourist attraction. So we went to the tunnel - It is possible to go deep under DMZ, and walk through the tunnel, around 300 m, until you reach the baricades, put there by South korean army.

It all reminded me to our tunnel. To our Sarajevo tunnel. Difference is that we used our tunnel to survive, and the korean tunnel(s) have never been used, and if they have, they would be used for military attack. It was possible to get through 10 000 soldiers in 1 hr through the 3rd tunnel.

It was pretty cool to listen our tour guides who never accused their north neighbours for any aggression - they only want reunification with them, they see them as same people, and they only want to live together again. I think this is a genuine pledge.

South koreans dream about the day when they'll be able to sit in a train in Seoul and go all the way to Moscow, or London. They have plans to build it through Pyongyang - only question is if their north korean brothers and sisters will want that. If not, the only alternative is to build a bridge to Japan.

DMZ zone reminded me to my 4 years in Sarajevo. Crazy, totally. I did not know that North korean men have military service of 10 years, and their women serve 7 years. Crazy, totally crazy.

As I couldn't get into North Korea, you can read more about it in Christiane Amanpour notes from her visit.