Incheon, Korea The Demilitarized Zone

Wednesday, February 27, 2019       Incheon, Korea…….Visit to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone)

 This morning Larry and I took an excursion into Incheon to see a local Korean market that sold everything from exotic food and seafood to clothing to house wares. 

                              The  bus dropped us off here...with all the sights of the city.

                      What  a scary site....to see bomb shelter signs dispersed throughout the city!

                                               Yes....she is cooking eels...….oh my! Someone said yummy!

                                                               Pretty Prickly

                                                          Turtle Soup Anyone?

                                                                    Lunch Time

We traveled on for about another 45 minutes by bus to a local restaurant and had a Korean style lunch at the­­­­­­­­ Korean Fusion Restaurant. They served a tasty coffee on the third floor which had  large windows for viewing out over the landscape.

After lunch we traveled down the Freedom Trail, another hour bus ride north to the DMZ passing miles and miles of barbed wire fences and numerous armed lookout towers with military service guards.

                  Tall spotlights towered over the guard posts for night detection of possible invasion. 

                                                                      Check point station

The DMZ  or Demilitarized Zone is  a couple of miles of wide portraying an imaginary line that created a buffer zone that winds 155 miles  from east to west dividing North and South Korea. 

Developed after the Korean War within the cease fire agreement in 1953, it is the only Demilitarized Zone in the world. 

Because it is a buffer area that was agreed upon to cease all military actions, the area has become an estuary for wild plants and animals developing a practical Ecosystem. 

We also saw many areas along the Freedom Trail that had active land mines. We spotted warning flags during our trip today that made potential trespassers aware that mines were close by. We also spotted military lookout posts on the North Korea side.

It was interesting that the USA has 23,500 troops stationed here in South Korea.

                                              Peace ribbons with messages written on them

Two years ago South Korea developed a missile defense system. When this was developed, China protested by not allowing its citizens to visit Korea. This is still happening today. Although Japan has a similar defense system, the Chinese Communist Government allows visitation to Japan.

We stopped at the Imjingak or Freedom Bridge. The bridge was used to exchange POWs after the Korean War, so it has been called the “Freedom Bridge”. 

                                               

                                                                   Note the blocked track

We got to see the original train that ran across the bridge. It did not survive the war.

North Korea dug four secret tunnels towards Seoul, Korea South sometime after the war. Larry and I were fortunate to ride a tram down  the third tunnel that ran under the DMZ, covertly connecting the two warring areas. The North Koreans had blasted through granite hoping to send their troops to surprise attack Seoul through these tunnels. You could actually see where the explosives were driven into the walls of rock.

It was an enormous job putting these tunnels in. Even after the tunnels were discovered, North Korea claimed that they had not blasted these tunnels, putting full blame on South Korea. However, it was obvious from the holes in the rock that the blasts were coming from the north. Some speculate that more tunnels exist today.  Sorry...no pictures in the tunnel:(

                                                              Dora Observatory

Larry and I also stopped at the brand new Dora Observatory allowing us to view the DMZ, Gaesung City, the second largest city of North Korea and also “Propaganda Village” Kijongdong of North Korea through telescopes.

Today we passed through two checkpoints with armed guards.  South Korean Military personal boarded our bus to check our passports…do you think they are looking for spies?

Sites  of Seoul and Incheon from the bus....the largest cities in Korea!!! Wow ! What skyscrapers!

                                                The skyscrapers went on and on and on!

We had a very long day arriving back at the ship around 6:00pm. We were happy travelers, having enjoyed all the history of the past and present as well as seeing a part of the world that few American civilians get to experience.

Today was a timely day for visiting the DMZ because President Trump and Kim Sung Un were meeting today in Vietnam. We are wondering if this meeting will end in a peace treaty opening up North Korea to the world for travelers…like us. We have our fingers crossed that a peace agreement will be reached and that the North Korean atomic bombs will be dismantled for the safety of all mankind.