Seoul Searching: beyond enemy lines

I finally stepped on North Korean soil!
I must admit that I wasn't exactly within the city limits of Pyongyang (which was what I've been dreaming of going these past several years) and that a couple of million people have been on the same spot. But those don't take away that fact that it was, technically, North Korea and that I should be darn happy to be on it.

Two South Korean soldiers, dressed in their winter uniform, stand sentinel in the conference room. This is a view from the South Korean side.  

This concrete slab serves as the demarcation line between North (left) and South Korea (right).

Here I am, standing next to a South Korean Solidier, on the North Korean side of the Conference Room.

I went on the DMZ-Panmunjom tour today and got to enter the conference room where the Military Armistice Commission Meeting was held. The entire tour lasted roughly the enitre day and cost me a pretty penny. But you know what? It was worth it! I learned a bit of Korean history, got to be a guest of the United Nations Command, Military Armistice Commission, and I was able to cross the border to North Korea.


Trivia:  The Philippines is one of the 17 nations which aided South Korea in the "Korean Conflict". (I didn't know that until today. Were we internationally significant back then? We actually sent 1,500 of our troops!)



*blog entry about the tour will be posted in the coming weeks.