In front of them all - Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)

North vs. South. In front of them all. Since 1953 probably the most heavy guarded strip of land. The border between future and past. The Orwell-like area where you feel like under continuous observation. We started from Lotte Hotel on Saturday 26^th of April.

We took a bus to The Korean Demilitarized Zone which is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the 38th parallel on an angle, with the west end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and the east end lying north of it. It is 155 miles (248 km) long and approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and is the most heavily armed border in the world. We were heading to Joint Security Area (JSA) which lies just next to the village of Panmunjon.Before entering JSA we had a briefing about the rules in the area. Most of them refer to photographing which is forbidden in most of places. Other refers to pointing things with ones finger. You can not do it because North Korean soldiers can mistake it with the pointing gun and shoot at you. We were often told to follow the rules because any misbehavior could end our trip.
Our guide together with the soldier that escorted us to the area were talking about many stories and incidents that happened in DMZ since 1953. Hopefully none of them ended with another war but some people were killed.
After the sightseeing we went to the gift shop where one can buy North Korean soju or handicraft. To sum up the trip was very interesting and definitely worth going. Sorry for this post, but this my field trip report for Korean Business and Culture classes at the same time.
Aha, None of us was shoot during the trip, no animals were harmed.