And this is where you have to start being careful. That's crazy, right? a tunnel dug by North Korea, to try and get inside South Korea. It is estimated that there are perhaps ten or fifteen tunnels that have not yet been found. (Music) Visiting North Korea's border My friends, how are you guys doing?
we are in South Korea and today we came to visit the border with North Korea. I think there's no need to mention it, I don't need to give a lot of context but let's summarize it by saying that South Korea and North Korea have had major conflicts for decades, to the point where North Korea is reported to be a country that has been completely closed off. The people that live there can't get out, they're isolated, they don't have communication with the outside world. It is a very surreal scenario and today we have come to visit the border with this territory. How can this be done? how do you manage that? I'll explain to you, the reality is that visiting this area that is known as the Demilitarized Zone between South Korea and North Korea is quite a touristy experience. The tours are sold on the internet, by travel agencies, on the streets and it is something that a lot of people visit. Let's take a look around, look at all these trucks there they are tourist trucks ok, from people who just like me have bought a ticket, a tour and in fact this whole area is made for tourists to come and visit. Look, here are the letters DMZ, Demilitarized Zone and there are displayed the flags of the 21 countries that supported South Korea during the period from 1950-1953 which was the so-called Korean War. In order to visit the DMZ, it is necessary to do it in groups we were brought in a bus with a little more than 40 people and despite being highly touristic, you have to have a bit of luck to get a date to come here because they tell us that only 10 trucks per day with a maximum of 40 passengers are allowed no more than that, so the spaces can be filled. This is an area guarded by soldiers but not soldiers from South Korea or North Korea but by United Nations soldiers it's a neutral zone, hence the name Demilitarized Zone. To enter here soldiers check your passport, your ID, it is not a very strict process but there are certain parameters that must be followed. In case you're wondering, it's not a very expensive experience to come here costs you from 60 to 90 dollars, depending on which agency you book it. And within the tour they show you different points of interest which I will show you today. Now, to have a general context of the situation between North and South Korea, we must understand that up to 1945 the armed forces of Japan were inside the Korean territory, once they withdrew there was a strong division of ideologies thus marking the northern side, which was supported by the Soviet Union and the southern side which was supported by USA. From 1950 to 1953 a great war occurs called the Korean War in which today's South Korea was supported by about 21 countries if I'm not mistaken, 16 of these were actively involved. And it was in 1953 when the two sides decided that it was very serious, their resources
were depleting, they we're not going to get to an early resolution, so they postponed
the war to come to a peace agreement in the future but oh boy, practically 70 years have passed and the conflict doesn't seem that it will come to a conclusion soon. Today the situation is highly tense all South Korean men when they turn 19 years old, from 19 to 34 years old have to do a military service of 18 months, mandatory, you can't really get away from it and North Korean men also have to do a military service but for ten years. If there were to be a conflict today, the North Korean military would be twice the size of the South Korea's army, there they are stricter and they demand much more. [Music] Look, I tell you this is highly touristic, here they have a model, very interesting in which you can get
an idea of where we are and what is the Demilitarized Zone. Look, we are right here in the middle, between the two borders and they gave practically two kilometers of territory
for a country, two kilometers of territory for another country and this is how you can preserve neutrality here. They exhibit some figures that exemplify what the real border looks like and here they show you how one of the tunnels was dug through which North Korea tried to enter to South Korean territory several years ago. In fact right now we went in to look at the tunnel that was known as the third tunnel, I'll show you what I recorded inside, there you have to use a helmet so you don't get hurt it's really a
very very interesting tour. [Music] We're going down into the tunnel at this moment, this is very interesting, four tunnels have been found through which North Korea wanted to invade South Korea. This was the third tunnel that was found in the year 1978 and we are told that in certain sections the space is going to be very reduced it is going to be like very, very small and it's getting cold, nobody warned us about this but it's getting colder, the temperature
could drop to about five degrees, something like that, let's see how it goes. This is a proof that this is very touristy, it's very interesting they have displays of what it was like, here is supposedly where the dynamite was put in to make the tunnel, you can also drink water here, they have drinking fountains and everything, and here it is where you have to start being careful because it gets a little bit more cramped and you could hit your head and it could be dangerous to hit yourself here, but this is crazy, right? a tunnel dug by North Korea to try to get into South Korea. And I'm telling you it is estimated that there are ten to fifteen tunnels that have not yet been found. Hey this very interesting, back there is a sealed part in which they built a very thick wall so that no one else can pass through, obviously, but there's a small window in which you can see into North Korea, there's also a timer for the number of days since the war was put on pause back in 1953, there is a timer there and it is a very thick wall with a little thin window so you can see the other side and it's got spikes in the floor, very surreal, it crazy to think about the super sensitive meaning that this tunnel has for a very serious conflict of an international nature. [Music] I emphasize that this it is very touristic,
they have these spots for you to take pictures that exemplify what the border looks like with the soldiers. And look here, there's even a souvenir store here so you can buy a DMZ t-shirt a sweatshirt, a keychain, look this is crazy, they sell you gun keychains your Korean soldier gun, do you want a magnet? they have DMZ magnets, wow very surreal, they sell you caps and pretty much whatever you want, look at these DMZ plates shot glasses with different soldiers, wow, pins with little flags on them, wow I didn't imagine it as touristy, it's a bit of a surreal scenario. [Music] Next stop, they brought us to a lookout point from which you can see the two borders I like how they put the soldiers like this, and in the road is very interesting that you see small communities, small houses called the peace villages, which is very interesting basically they are villages protected by the United Nations which are inhabited by people who are already lived in this area, in this territory, then
these people being in neutral territory don't have to pay taxes to either of the two Koreas, they live here in complete peace protected by the UN and they have their crops and some small factories here. From here we can kind of see, it's very very cloudy, but there after the river is North Korea, before the river, all this territory that we're looking at is South Korea here they plant a lot of ginseng and also soybeans. Now check this disturbing fact I've got, they tell me that one of the biggest differences between this side, South Korea and the other side of North Korea is that on this side there are trees and on that side there aren't, so you can differentiate very easily. And if you see here there's a lot of vegetation, a lot of trees and there are no trees there. Why is that?
they don't like them? they don't grow there? This has a very interesting context but it's also very disturbing, it is said ok, it is reported that many people want to escape from North Korea and they choose to cross the border by the river, then so that they can supervise, so they can watch them and they can't hide they cut the trees so that people can't hide and the soldiers who are monitoring from control towers can get a much better look a much more specific overview of the whole area and people can't be hiding and therefore they can't escape. How about that? very hard, very sad. It must be said; it is reported, it is said on this side of the world that in the North Korean border they remove the trees so that their people can not escape: what a sad fact, and of course what a disturbing fact. [Music] Do you want to hear another disturbing fact? here it is they're telling us that people from South Korea can't even pass through North Korea in airspace so if you are flying from, let's say South Korea to Russia, you have to go around to Japan and modify all the air routes so that you don't actually cross the territory even at high altitudes And now we arrived at the Park of Peace which is full of symbols that are looking for peace between two territories, this statue here is very strong ok very strong, it tells us about an event that occurred in 1983 in which for the first time in over 30 years people were able to see each other with their relatives who stayed on the other side of the border, let's see, during the war people just wanted to be safe, so if a bomb went off, if a shooting happened they just walked away without thinking, I'm in the north, I'm in the south and when the division occurred a lot of families were separated; something like what happened with the Berlin Wall just a few decades ago only that this conflict to this date has not been resolved. In 1983 for 138 days the border was temporarily opened so that people could reunite with their families and there's even a show that's online and shows very strong and very devastating images of people reuniting with their loved ones for a few hours, they hug, they cry, they hold hands, really very strong images and let's reflect on how precious it is to be able to see our loved ones when we want to or at least to talk to them, the people here if you have a loved one in North Korea you can't even talk to them, that's devastating it breaks the heart. And check this out,
it's pretty interesting, with this button you play the song that was used in this live broadcast in the Korean television, that lasted for over 453 hours. You touch and it plays the song. Something very sad, very hard that makes us reflect on how absurd a political relationship can be between humans in certain situations. Here in the park are also exhibited some photographs of historical events and recent moments to the years of the separation. In fact they tell me that in this park it is usual to see people in ceremonies, let's say. Hey and now I want to emphasize that all this information that I am sharing with you is information being given to me here on the site, it doesn't mean that it is the absolute truth, this is the information that they're giving us from the South Korean side, if you travel to North Korea they will tell you another version of the facts, they are going to tell other events, so I do want to clarify, it doesn't mean that the absolute truth is being shared, the only interpretation there is of the facts, over there they must have another side of the story, another side of the coin, that maybe someday we will know I don't know, but now that we are visiting the South Korean side, this is the information that is shared, that is the story being told. I always find it very interesting what the history books tell us, is that really what happened? are they only telling what makes the territory that tells the story look good? As many experts say, history is written by the victors, and in this case it might not apply perfectly but we can consider that different sides, different parts of the planet are going to narrate it at their convenience. Right here at the Peace Park there are some fences in which people leave messages of peace of hope, and there are exhibited items of high historical value such as this train that was attacked a couple of decades ago, it is reported that it had war items on it so it was destroyed in order to be looted and well today it remains as a memory of all the tragic events of war, of conflicts. From here, from Imjingak it is marked the distance towards the capitals of different countries, Seoul that way, and the one that was the capital at that time Kaesong that way, 22 kilometers away. Today the capital of North Korea is Pyongyang. [Music] Well my friends this is how we get to the end of this video, what a valuable site we have visited today, with a very strong historical significance and sadly current. Like I was saying, we can reflect that there are always going to be two sides of the story, however the reality is that it's a conflict that is still very strong and it is not even close to being resolved and that's really sad it's very very devastating. Tell me, did you know of the existence of this site? did you know that you could visit it so easily? As well if you have interesting data that you would like to share about this topic please leave them in the comments below. Thank you very much for joining me as always I'll see you in a few days with a new video, goodbye.
