JSA stand-off
South Korean soldiers at the Joint Security Area (JSA), the 800-meter wide, roughly circular, area bisected by the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea. The MDL is marked by the concrete slab running between the two buildings. On the opposite side is the North Korean Panmungak (Panmun Hall). All negotiations since the Armistice of 1953 have taken place here at the JSA. North Koreans and the United Nations Command (primarily South Koreans and Americans) meet face to face in the conference rooms of the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) buildings that are straddling the “border”. Notice how the ROK soldiers hide half their body behind the walls. This gives an impression of the palpable tension, which dictates battle readiness in case bullets start flying. On the day we were there the visit to one of the observation posts near the famous bridge of no return (where prisoners of war were exchanged right after the end of the war) was skipped due to works that made North Koreans edgy…
Every visitor has to sign a form accepting amongst others that "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action". There have been more than 750 acts of violence recorded in the JSA, amongst which the famous Axe incident in 1976, when two American soldiers died, and one in 1984 involving a crazed Soviet tourist, Vasily Matuzok, who ran across the MDL from the North shouting that he wanted to defect, causing a fire exchange that claimed the lives of four soldiers, 3 North and 1 South Korean. Hence the JSA tour guides, the US soldiers, are not f***** around and there is a serious rundown of the safety protocols during the prep talk at camp Bonifas, right outside the DMZ. We had to line up as instructed and were allowed to take photos for a few minutes from our position, only towards the North. Still, the JSA receives around 100.000 tourists each year, a surreal experience accessible exclusively via organized tours.
JSA stand-off
South Korean soldiers at the Joint Security Area (JSA), the 800-meter wide, roughly circular, area bisected by the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) separating South and North Korea. The MDL is marked by the concrete slab running between the two buildings. On the opposite side is the North Korean Panmungak (Panmun Hall). All negotiations since the Armistice of 1953 have taken place here at the JSA. North Koreans and the United Nations Command (primarily South Koreans and Americans) meet face to face in the conference rooms of the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) buildings that are straddling the “border”. Notice how the ROK soldiers hide half their body behind the walls. This gives an impression of the palpable tension, which dictates battle readiness in case bullets start flying. On the day we were there the visit to one of the observation posts near the famous bridge of no return (where prisoners of war were exchanged right after the end of the war) was skipped due to works that made North Koreans edgy…
Every visitor has to sign a form accepting amongst others that "The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action". There have been more than 750 acts of violence recorded in the JSA, amongst which the famous Axe incident in 1976, when two American soldiers died, and one in 1984 involving a crazed Soviet tourist, Vasily Matuzok, who ran across the MDL from the North shouting that he wanted to defect, causing a fire exchange that claimed the lives of four soldiers, 3 North and 1 South Korean. Hence the JSA tour guides, the US soldiers, are not f***** around and there is a serious rundown of the safety protocols during the prep talk at camp Bonifas, right outside the DMZ. We had to line up as instructed and were allowed to take photos for a few minutes from our position, only towards the North. Still, the JSA receives around 100.000 tourists each year, a surreal experience accessible exclusively via organized tours.