The Korean Demilitarized Zone—colloquially known as the DMZ—is infamous throughout the world. However, though the term may conjure up mental images of barbed wire, patrolling military personnel, and tense political showdowns across a narrow table, there is much more to the DMZ than that. To appreciate what the DMZ represents for Korean politics, society, and culture, one needs to look at the history of how the DMZ came to be and become familiar with the attempts that have been made to legally—and illegally—bridge that gap.
Korean War (1950-1953)
The visitor center at the Third Infiltration Tunnel site held a set of signs providing a robust recounting of the Korean War. While I've attached photos below of the signs for those interested in a more extensive history, I'll provide a brief one for you here.
From 1910 until 1945, the Japanese held the Korean continent under colonial rule. In August 1945, the Soviet Union freed the northern part of Korea down to the 38th parallel, while U.S. forces freed the southern half. Because of the subsequent Cold War, Korea found itself retaining that 38th parallel split, and each side set up their own government. Each government saw themselves as the legitimate one, and the small-scale conflicts escalated on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded across the 38th parallel.
Within three days of the initial invasion, North Korea captured Seoul (서울), the capital of South Korea, and by two months the North Koreans advanced all the way to Busan (부산), located on the southeastern-most tip of the Korean peninsula.
In August, the United Nations forces arrived to block North Korea's advances. South Korea reclaimed Seoul on September 28 and crossed over into North Korean territory on October 1. At this point China sent in forces to support North Korea, and Seoul again switched hands on January 4, 1951.
Seoul continued to switch hands over the course of the following months until truce talks began on July 10, 1951. Two years later, on July 27, 1953, the United States, North Korea, and China signed an armistice (noticeably, South Korea was not part of the negotiations). Included in this armistice was the formation of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which consisted of South and North 2 km (1.2 mile) boundaries running the length of the Korean continent.
Before visiting Panmunjom (where the Joint Security Area of the DMZ resides) we took a trip to the Third Infiltration Tunnel. What is the Third Infiltration Tunnel, you ask? It's the third of the four North Korean infiltration tunnels South Korea has currently discovered.
As I did with the section above, I've included pictures of the signs in the Third Infiltration Tunnel visitor center that give details on all four infiltration tunnels, but I'll provide a brief history of the third one here.
The Third Infiltration Tunnel (the one we visited) is located 73 m (239.5 feet) below the ground. Averaging 2 m (6.6 feet) in diameter and height and 1,635 m (5,364.2 feet) long, South Korea discovered the tunnel on October 17, 1978. Out of the four tunnels it was the one closest to Seoul, being only 52 km (32 miles) away.
It's hypothesized the four discovered tunnels, if completed, would have been used for a four-prong attack on Seoul. It's likely there are more tunnels that have not been discovered yet.
Probably the most well-known area of the DMZ is the Joint Security Area located in Panmunjom. The Conference Room, the place where discussions between North and South Korea are held, is located here. There have been several skirmishes between the North and South in this area, conflicts you can read about in the signs I uploaded in the Korean War section.
I've created this section to provide a look at several other of the historic sites we visited near and in the DMZ!