Korea Late Winter Sonata 2015 -Seoul - Visit to DMZ JSA area

I am always fascinated by the DMZ separating 2 countries that could have been one. There is no greater difference of 2 countries that is so near yet so far. While many others had reunified, these 2 remains technically at war.

When we visited South Korea in 2009 for our honeymoon, DMZ was not part of my tour group itinerary. Because we are having a free & easy tour this time, I decided to book a local tour group to DMZ to see for myself just how divided the 2 Korea are.

There are a few agencies that offer such tour but I chose to book one with Koridoor for their prices and comprehensive itineraries after much consideration.

Our tour pass

Cost of each Adult is priced at KRW 96,000 ( SGD 120) and we can choose to submit our credit card details and sign the slip on the day of the tour or to pay cash 3 days before the tour.

I wasn't too comfortable to submit my CC details and therefore choose to make a trip down on our day of arrival to pay the fee 1st before going to Busan.


To get to Camp Kim USO:

1). Take subway to Samgakji station (Line4,6)
 2). Take exit 10 (Line 6) or exit 6 (Line 4)

3a). For Line 6, exit 10 after exiting, walk straight for 500m and you will see the main gate that states Camp Kim. 

3b). For Line 4, exit 6 walk straight and cross the zebra crossing and you will come to face to face  with a big junction. Cross opposite and walk straight and you will see Line 6, exit 10. Then walk straight to Camp Kim.

Barricade nearing JSA

Barren lands along the way

We were told to report to Camp Kim at 7am for departure and also to wear proper attire to avoid rejected for the tour. We are also required to bring our passports for re-verification. There were quite a lot of people for this tour and we are the only 2 from our country. The journey up to the border is about 2 hours which we took the chance to catch up on sleep.

Barbed wire nearing border

You can actually feel the difference as we neared the DMZ. Barbed wires, barricades, barren lands, increased presence of military all indicates the tension, never in our life had we seen borders like that. The tour guide also informed us that no photo taking are allowed in the camp unless told.

Waiting outside the camp

We were brought into Camp Bonifas which have Korean and US armies stationed there. A US soldier were assigned as our chaperon who will accompany us in the camp and to ensure our safety.

We were brought to a briefing next on the history and also safety around this camp.

Thumb of rule here is to be orderly at all times, staying in twos while walking around. No rude gestures should be made towards the North side to prevent unnecessary trouble. No photos of the South side building is to be taken at any time unless permission granted by chaperon. We can however take photos of the North side from where we are standing from the South. Not that it had much scenery though.

Freedom House

The greyish building behind Freedom House belongs to North Korea. There are Guards there watching us as we tour the area here. Actually inside the Freedom House, it's divided into 2 where after the line, it's essentially North Korea soil. This is the closest that we could get to the North side.

There are 2 South Korean soldiers inside the Freedom House on duty and we are allowed to take pictures not the room.

This is essentially a neutral ground meeting room where representatives from both side can meet and discuss matters. Not dude whether anything had taken place here or not. 

One interesting thing to note is that the soldiers here are standing with their fists clenched in a fighting stance so as to prepare for any emergency situation. And boy, they sure look fierce.

We were then brought back to our bus where it will take us to an incident side which soldiers were hack to death over a tree.