While in Seoul I had the chance to tour one of the most dangerous and militarized regions on the planet — the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. The DMZ is the most tensely guarded border in the world, with over a million soldiers from three nations keeping watch on the 250 kilometer no man’s land.


The North continues to deny that they are the ones who invaded the South prompting the Korean War, and they also deny that they have made several other attempts since the the DMZ was created to infiltrate South Korean soil. Of these attempts they’ve dug four tunnels (that have been discovered), and our first stop on the tour allowed us to enter into the third tunnel discovered in 1978.

After putting on the required hard hats we descended a 300 meter (984 ft.) ramp that led us into a long dark this granite passage. Pictures were not allowed in the tunnel but more info with pictures can be found at http://www.f-106deltadart.com/Korea-DMZ/tunnels.htm





From on top of this mountain, we could see for miles into North Korea with the aid of powerful binoculars. Just over the border we could easily see Kijongdon, the propaganda village that the North built to project economic wealth and prosperity to anyone watching and possibly desiring to defect from the South.  There are no residents in the village, except for soldiers. Evidently some lights do come on at night but they are always the same buildings, at the same time. From a distance, it looks like the buildings have windows but there is not even glass in the buildings.


Ironically, the world's tallest flag tower is in Kijong-dong at 160m tall. It is in the Guinness World Book of Records as well. It was not originally the tallest - the tallest was on the south side in Daeseong-dong. When Daeseong-dong flag pole was extended, the north responded by extending theirs taller, sometimes touted as the "flagpole war".