[Sourcecode]

I've been living in Korea for a little over a year now and decided that it's finally time that I make my way up to the DMZ for a proper tour.

HOW

There are a lot of tour groups that us on tours to the DMZ.
Personally I chose to go through a USO Tour. Because I found it to be more "legit.
Koridor DMZ/JSA Tour

The website is a little odd to navigate, but it's not difficult to book a tour.
Civilians pay 92 USD
Military Personnel pay 65 USD

The tours are usually always full, and I had to book three weeks in advance to get a date.
I suggest anyone attempting to take a tour book well in advance also.

The rest of the websites instructions are pretty easy to follow.


WHERE
The USO lounge technically is not on the military base. It's right in front of the gate and open to the public.
You meet there, sign in and load onto your bus.

The bus was a decent hour and a half ride up to the third tunnel.
They shuffle you into a room where you watch a overproduced video that talks about the Korean War and explains the reason for the DMZ and further into how the multiple tunnels were discovered.

After that they allowed us to go into the tunnel.

It's a bit of a trap.. And they tell you that you can't take your camera or phone unto the tunnel.

I didn't wanna be "That Guy" and I put my phone in a locker and went through security, only to realize that security was a joke and they old guy standing there didn't care to check why the machine was constantly beeping. Of course.. Other old people on the tour could care less about rules and there were plenty of old couples taking pictures with their phones. I assume that they say no photos because they risk having a bunch of flashes go off.

The tunnel essentially becomes a train of people walking down a tunnel about 500 meters.. Which is horrible if you are a tall person because the tunnel can't be more than5'5. It's hot.. It's stuffy ..it's cramped, but you're givin a hard hat to stop you from busting your head all the time. Without that hat.. I would have never made itThe end of the tunnel isn't anything special. It's blocked off for safety but you can peek into the North Korean side via some holes in the barriers.

Then you have to turn around and walk 500 meters all the way back.
Supposedly 30 thousand North Koreans could move through that tunnel and into South Korea in an hour.

I could barely fit in it.


Dorason Station
The station was once used to move freight between the north and the south... North Korea is always trippin though so.. of course. Now it's just a tourist attraction.

IT was completely empty besides my tour for a while.
Eventually some Chinese people popped up and wanted to take pictures with me.
It literally became a train.. Of old Asians waiting to take pictures with the tall black guy.

Besides that.. The station is pretty boring.

In theory.. /if North Korea ever opens back up.. the train station could be used to bring families together again...



Observation point

This area is pretty much. A gate to the vast no mans land of the DMZ but there is a catch.
You pretty cut ant take pictures of it.
There is a line that you can cross with your camera.. But the barrier that you actually stand at to look from is on a hill so you can't see much of the vastness with your camera.

Of course that didn't really stop me.. The /Korean soldiers seem to realize it's a tourist destination and they don't really violently I force the rules.. I walked up with my camera and cellphone out and just madly snapped pictures at rapid mode until I was told to stop. The Soldiers never checked my camera.



In fact.. they spend a lot of time posing for pictures.

I ran into a Korean Sergeant major and he was convinced the girl /I was with was my wife and wanted to take selfies with us.
. We just wanted an excuse to take picture and look like we were taking pictures of each other..instead of really taking pictures past the barrier.

The no mans land is pretty barren.. . But it's an interesting perspective to know that no human has been on this land for decades.. People just stand in guard towers and watch each other though telescopes all day.


The JSA
At this point you are driven to the JSA and the tour is turned over to US Soldiers.
They aren't professionally, but they have practices their routines and know what they are talking about.
I liked that they were extremely personable and will freely tell you about their lives and such. Of course they won't answer specific questions.. But. To me, the most interesting part of the tour was getting to know the people that live there day end and day out. Minus the one dude that tried to act hard the entire tour..fuck that dude



This is the actually "finale" of the tour. You actually get to meet face to face with North Koreans.

But.. /north/Korea has slowly learned to not even play the games.
They no longer put soldiers at stance at the building. It's to risky for the. They don't want to risk defectors being so close.
They also don't want to give Americans the enjoyment of taking a bunch of pictures of their soldiers with flashy cameras wearing expensive clothes. The guard stay at the other side of the street inside a building.
One lone guard stands sentry . And he is much too far to easily make a run for the South without dying.


Because of this.. The South Korean side no longer maintains as heightened of a presence there either.
The South Korean guards still stand sentry, but it is clearly a bit of a show.. Because you can stick around long enough to watch them fidget and go inside to eat lunch non chalantly.. It's not any spectacle like a changing of a guard.

No doubt the job is still stressful and prestigious.. The sentries are much taller than the average Korean.. And they are supposedly trained talk won do masters.
But I don't see them living a stressful life..

You are allowed to walk into the conference room under the protection of both US and Korean guards who bloc the center of the room and door.

But you do get to take pictures of them and standing next to the,

This was the only place where my camera was checked to make sure I didn't get and compromising pictures. I took a lot of pictures and loitered after people left so I could be alone. I could tell the soldier was a little tense..But I wanted a good picture.

They also take you to another observation point where you can peer into the North Korean distance and see the fake city that's built and the massive flag they have flying.


They also take you down to the little monument that tributes to the axe murder incident.. Where multiple soldiers were killed over the chopping down of a tree.
I really suggest everyone go look up. Operation Paul Bunyan .
At the same point you get within a stones throw of the bridge of no return.
I could have just walked into North Korea. And become the next Dennis Rodman.

They say they use to let people off the bus to see it up close ..but for most tours.. They don't do it anymore.. Because.. People pla to much and it's just too much risk..





All in all .. The tour is completely worth it.. I love history.. And Military things.. .. PLus I got some good pictures.
I can happily go back to America saying I banged a bunch of Korean girls and saw North Korea with my own eyes.

[Sourcecode]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murd...aul_Bunyan

Quote:

Operation Paul Bunyan was carried out on August 21 at 07:00, three days after the killings. A convoy of 23 American and South Korean vehicles ("Task Force Vierra", named after Lieutenant Colonel Victor S. Vierra, commander of the United States Army Support Group) drove into the JSA without warning to the North Koreans, who had one observation post manned at that hour. In the vehicles were two eight-man teams of military engineers (from the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division) equipped with chain-saws to cut down the tree.

These teams were accompanied by two 30-man security platoons from the Joint Security Force, who were armed with pistols and axe handles. The 2nd Platoon secured the northern entrance to the JSA via the Bridge of No Return, while the 3rd Platoon secured the southern edge of the area.

Concurrently, a team from B Company, commanded by Captain Walter Seifried, had activated the detonation systems for the charges on Freedom Bridge and had the 165mm main gun of the M728 combat engineer vehicle aimed mid-span to ensure that the bridge would fall should the order be given for its destruction. Also B Company, supporting E Company (bridge), were building M4T6 rafts on the Imjin River should the situation require emergency evacuation by that route.

In addition, a 64-man South Korean Special Forces company accompanied them, armed with clubs and trained in Tae Kwon Do, supposedly without firearms. However, once they parked their trucks near the Bridge of No Return, they started throwing out the sandbags that lined the truck bottoms, and handing out M16 rifles and M79 grenade launchers that had been concealed below.[2] Several of the special forces men also had claymore mines strapped to their chests with the firing mechanism in their hands, and were shouting at the North Koreans to cross the bridge.[14][15]

A U.S. Infantry company in 20 utility helicopters and seven Cobra attack helicopters circled behind them. Behind these helicopters, B-52 Stratofortresses from Guam escorted by U.S. F-4 Phantom IIs from Kunsan Air Base and South Korean F-5 and F-86 fighters were visible flying across the sky at high altitude. At Taegu Air Base, F-111 bombers of the 366th Tactical Fighter Wing out of Mountain Home Air Force Base, were stationed, and F-4 Phantoms C and D from the 18th TFW Kadena Air Base and Clark Air Base were also deployed. The aircraft carrier USS Midway (CV-41) task force had also been moved to a station just offshore.[6]

Near the edges of the DMZ, many more heavily armed U.S. and South Korean infantry, artillery including the Second Battalion, 71st Air Defense Regiment armed with Improved Hawk missiles, and armor were waiting to back up the special operations team. Bases near the DMZ were prepared for demolition in the case of a military response. The defense condition (DEFCON) was elevated on order of General Stilwell, as recounted in Colonel De LaTeur's research paper later. In addition, 12,000 additional troops were ordered to Korea, including 1,800 marines from Okinawa.[6] During the operation, nuclear-capable strategic bombers circled over the JSA.[16] According to an intelligence analyst monitoring the North Korea tactical radio net, the accumulation of force "blew their... minds".[17]

Altogether, Task Force Vierra consisted of 813 men: almost all of the men of the United States Army Support Group, of which the Joint Security Force was a part; a South Korean reconnaissance company; a South Korean Special Forces company which had infiltrated the river area by the bridge the night before; and members of a reinforced composite rifle company from the 9th Infantry Regiment. In addition to this force, every UNC force in the rest of South Korea was on battle alert.

Because 'Merica

[Gunnar]

I took the same tour back in 2012 myself, and agree it's worth it. I would advice people to check that the tour they book actually takes you all the way to the panmunjom (those blue houses on the actual border), as I would say that that's definitely the highlight of the tour. Did they give you the opportunity to buy some North Korean beer as well? I bought a couple of bottles back then and kept the empty bottles as souvenirs up to this day.

[kaotic]

This is on my bucket list.

I'm a war buff and love historical and live action things like this.

Thanks for the insightful info regarding the DMZ, fantastic stuff.

[The Beast1]

That was really a cool read. If you still have time, give it a once over for spelling and grammar

+1 rep from me.

[Sourcecode]

Yea, there are two tours. One of them doesn't take you to the JSA. I don't know who would take the tour that doesn't include the best spot though.

It's funny. I have been to multiple areas of the DMZ and many of the different training sites with Korean and American Soldiers. I just never got around to a tour.
*I haven't had a computer for weeks and types this solely from my cellphone. I try to minimize mistakes, but auto correct has the habit of deleting words I've noticed.

I'm thinking about taking the tour again, if I have the opportunity. Maybe I'll buy different souvenirs next time.
I would also be more daring with my camera. I brought a camera bag, but would often have to leave it on the bus. Because no bags are allowed in a lot of areas. Places like the observation point, I wish I had had a didn't lens on my camera for better pictures. But I was still able to get really good close up pictures. Of course unloading them online degrades the quality a bit.

I forgot to mention that the tour does make a spot at a cafeteria for lunch. It's a simple meal, but you can have a couple beers if you want.