DMZ troops guarding the border remain on high alert status 24/7

This no-man’s land, 4 km wide by 240km long, separates North Korea from South Korea, and can be visited on a 6 hour tour from Seoul. Following regulations is paramount, and the tour includes, along with the DMZ, the Joint Security Area (JSA) and Panmunjon. A number of other sites are included in the tour, such as the Dora Observatory, and the Third Infiltration Tunnel. Tours book up really fast, so we’d recommend a 2 weeks advance notice. Expect to pay between $80-$120 USD, which includes a 6 hour tour and lunch.

The tour begins 60 km north of Seoul, and security rules are enforced for visitors. As “guests” of the United Nations, you’ll be continually asked to show your passport, to avoid taking pictures in most areas, to adhere to a dress code, and to not make gestures toward North Korean troops you’ll see over the border at the JSA. You’ll be surrounded by an area comprising lookout towers, tank traps, electrical fences, and anti-personnel mines. North and South Korean troops are combat-ready, and take a no-nonsense approach. Be on your best behavior. Military operation of one kind or another still occur. A week after our trip, a North Korean soldier killed two North Korean officers and defected to the south, just a few km from where the tour occurred.

Only a few meters separate troops on alert in South Korea from the North Korean soldier patrolling under the arcade of the Panmun-Gak building in the background

In spite of the high-alert status, it’s not all that scary on the surface. All visitors’ points along the way sell ice cream and DMV souvenirs. The area is fascinating. The Third Infiltration Tunnel, 1,635 meters long was surreptitiously dug by North Korea as an entry point for a potential invasion of Seoul, and it’s big enough to move one division per hour, along with its weapons. It was only discovered through the revelations of a defector from the North. On the tour, you’ll walk through a large portion of it. From the Dora Observatory, you can get a wonderful view of North Korea (pay binoculars are there, or bring your own), and the factory city of Kaesong, as well as the empty “propaganda village” of Kijondong.

There are sobering elements to the tour, including a drive-by to The Bridge of No Return, the spot where two U.S. troops were killed by North Korean soldiers in in 1976 when attempting to trim a tree that was concealing the view of a North Korean checkpoint.

The tour is pricey, but unique, in the sense that this is the only place in the world where you’ll see a country divided in half, separated by a thin strip of neutral ground. A cease-fire has existed since 1953, but the Korean War was never formally ended. The tours are booked in advance, so we’d suggest booking yours before you get to Seoul. Two organizations that book tours include the USO www.uso.org/korea and Gyeonggi Tourism www.tourdmz.com