My visit to the Korean border is surreal. Bizarre. Sad. Horrible. Fascinating. Terrifying. Shameful via IrishTimesLife
I board the bus at 7.30am on a Seoul street in a flurry of early February snow. The process to enter that two-mile buffer zone is exhaustive. We have been instructed to bring passports with us. There is a quota of people who can enter each day, and they are counted in and out four times: twice going in and twice coming out. The guide on our bus collects the passports and stops at the first checkpoint. There she receives a time for our group to spend our 30 minutes at the border: 11am.
To fill the time until our allocated 11am slot, we visit a couple of other locations en route associated with the history of the creation of the border. One contains a funfair on its ground, with a carousel and various rides. Everything is closed, as it is still winter. Of all the things I think I might see at the North-South Korean border, swing boats and a merry-go-round for children are not among them. As I look at the funfair, we hear explosions in the distance.
There is DMZ Chocolate in three flavours of black bean. There are bottles of a red wine called 38 Wine, whose label reads: “38th Parallel – The war began here, June 25th, 1950”. The bottles come with red and gold gift boxes. There is a handwritten label stuck on the shelf where the bottles stand. “Wine made by defector in a North Korean way!”
After the gift shops and the tunnel and the faded-looking sign in pink, green and blue you see in all the that spells out DMZ in huge letters, and which most tourists climb on top of to photograph each other, it is 11am and our slot at the edge of the two-mile buffer zone. There are two flags clearly visible, a kilometre or so apart on that flat terrain, on immensely tall flagpoles. The one nearest me is the flag of South Korea. The more distant one is North Korea. The border lies between the two flags. Beyond the North Korean flag, I can clearly see a building with all its windows blown out: a former factory that was the recent target of a strike from South Korea.
España Últimas Noticias, España Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
Biden visit costs included €6,700 canapé reception and chewing gum removalLeinster House reception, purchase of flags and plants, and a €147 Domino’s Pizza bill feature in Oireachtas, OPW and local authorities spending on US president’s official trip
Leer más »
Derry aim to bounce back when Bohs visit BrandywellBoth teams need to win to keep pressure on Shamrock Rovers, who take on UCD
Leer más »
Zelenskiy confirms Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces is under wayCanadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announces 500 million Canadian dollars worth of military aid for Kyiv during visit to city
Leer más »
Jonny Cooper: As the pressure rises, footballers need to feel as free as La RochelleA visit to the European rugby champions produced valuable insights about how to excel when the stakes are high
Leer más »
Woman dragged by her hair from car during 'terrifying' broad daylight hijackingThe incident took place at around midday on Friday
Leer más »
Zelenskiy confirms Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces is under wayCanadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announces 500 million Canadian dollars worth of military aid for Kyiv during visit to city
Leer más »