DMZ KOREA

The Korean DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone which separates South and North Korea.

My Korean business partner took me to visit a section of it, not far from Seoul. We visited various viewing points, some of which contained historical exhibits.

The DMZ was created in 1953 as part of a peace agreement, which attempted to resolve the tensions, resulting from the separation of Korea into North Korea and South Korea after the second world war. The war had lead to Japanese occupation of Korea, followed by it's liberation by the US in the South and the Soviet Union in the north.

South Korea became a democratic capitalist state, while North Korea became a communist one.

In the 1970s South Korea started to discover tunnels, which had been drilled into the south from the north. The tunnels were large enough to accommodate the rapid movement of military forces.

These days most of the tourist observation points on the southern side of the zone are built high enough for a good view of the north and provided pay by use binoculars. Some of these observation platforms are impressive constructions.

Korean guides pointed out villages on the northern side, which they claimed were uninhabited and had been built for propaganda purposes only. We were told that these propaganda villages had been built to convince the people of South Korea, that the north was a prosperous country.

I guess the people of the north might have been even more impressed that the south could build such impressive observation structures just to watch them from.

Over the years, depending on the state of inter government relations, the borders between north and south have been opened for reunion visits of families from each side. Then they have been closed again and so on.