Where History is
Wy
still Present...
A trip to the border area of North- and South Korea
Text by Laura Kuhlig; Photos by Laura Kuhlig
I
am sure that all of the readers are aware that the
border between North and South Korea is until
today the most severely guarded border area of the
world. Any atempts to cross it would fail miserably.
herefore, I was really curious as to what I could expect
from our trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). My
university in Chuncheon had prepared that outing for
the students of the scholarship program I am part of as
well. In the end of November it was already prety cold,
but most of us were excited about the experiences we
would share during those two days.
Two university buses brought us to the “Korea
DMZ Peace-Life Valley Education and Training Center”
where we irst moved into our accommodations before
starting with our prearranged schedule. First, we visited
a museum where we learned about the emergence of the
border strip and the development of the ecosystem in
that area, in which now rare plants and animal species are
at home. In addition, a movie about the same topic was
shown to us and we listened to a scientiic presentation
about ecologically conscious lifestyles, although I
am not really sure were the connection between the
presentation and DMZ lay.
he next morning we were on our way to the
fourth tunnel (4th iniltration tunnel), which was
discovered in 1990 and later opened for tourists.
North Koreans had dug this tunnel as a way to atack
their neighbors secretly but they never reached their
destination. Besides the more generously built tunnel,
which was constructed later from the South Korean side
to enable the access for visitors, the original passage
was oppressively narrow, damp and of course badly
ventilated. Ater a few minutes I got a headache because
of the bad air and my stomach was not really feeling well
either. I can only imagine how those men must have
felt who worked for weeks under the earth to obey the
orders of their leader. here was not much more to see
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