The Wandering Whittens
South Korea

Our Trip to the JSA

If you’ve been here for a bit, you might remember my post about our trip to the DMZ where I talked about the almost-obsession that I’ve had with North Korea since I was about 15. Yesterday we were able to make another trip up to the border – this time to see the JSA – and it was incredible, surreal, memorable, and honestly a dream come true.

Our Trip to the JSA in South Korea

Don’t get me wrong, our trip to the DMZ in December was awesome – and something I never dreamed I’d experience. Going into the third tunnel and seeing Daesongdong and Kijongdong from the observatory truly felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. To see these places that I’d heard so much about in PERSON was such a surreal experience that I really failed to put into words in my post about it (although that didn’t stop me from writing way too much, as always).

What is the JSA?

The Joint Security Area (JSA) is the only part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North Korean forces (KPA) and South Korean forces meet face-to-face. Historically it has been used as a meeting place for North and South Korean officials to meet and discuss the Armistice Agreement, and was also used for a time for negotiations between North Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC). Now, it is largely a tourist attraction, although there is still contact between US and Korean forces and North Korean forces at least twice daily by way of an old radio from the 1980’s.

Getting to the JSA

We caught the bus at 9am outside of my husband’s office. We were actually very fortunate to be able to make it on the tour – there were only two spots available for each Company and so we thought FOR SURE we wouldn’t be able to make it on. As my husband continued to advertise and push out the information for the tour, however, there were still spots open. And so, we ended up being able to jump in and fill not just two spots for Brandon and I, but two MORE spots for C and E. To be able to include some of our children in this experience was incredible. (And thank you, Hannah, for holding down the fort with the younger three kids!!!)

And here’s where I’ll put a little disclaimer: there are some differences of opinion when it comes to what an appropriate age is to visit the DMZ and JSA. Only kids 8 and older are allowed at the JSA, but many don’t think it’s appropriate to bring children that young because of some more graphic details that are shared about the Panmunjom Axe Murder Incident of 1976. That being said: we didn’t find the information to be overly graphic for our kids. Yes, the tour guide did talk about what happened during the incident, but he did so in a way that wasn’t overly violent or terrifying. Still, some parents may not want their young kids exposed to that information, so I think it’s worth mentioning.

The bus ride up to the JSA was only about two hours long. Arriving in the JSA was really exciting and it was so fun to watch on Google Earth as our location got closer and closer to the border. Our first stop was the DFAC on Camp Bonifas for lunch – and it was exactly what you would expect from DFAC food: not overly delicious but definitely edible. And, it was cheap. Ha! We also got to sign our names on the wall in the DFAC which was really cool!

JSA Visitor’s Center

After lunch, we headed over to the JSA Visitor’s Center where we learned more of the history of the JSA and MDL. Of course I won’t be able to remember every single detail of what we learned, but there were a few things I remember that are worth mentioning. Firstly: the Panmunjom Axe Murder incident – which is one of the more famous happenings along the JSA. In 1976 the Joint Security Area was exactly that: a JOINT area. There were no clear lines between the North and the South and the entire area was largely patrolled by both sides. During this time, UNCSB (United Nations Command Security Battalion) needed to trim a large poplar tree that was located close to the “Bridge of No Return” which leads directly into North Korea. The tree was blocking a South Korean guard tower from view of the other guard towers. It was important to have the way cleared because of the frequency of incidents that occurred near the bridge. (KPA soldiers would often crossed over the bridge and attempt – and sometimes succeed – to drag the South Korean guard over into North Korea.)

UNCSB told KPA that they would be trimming the tree – to which KPA said they could NOT trim it because it was planted by Kim Il-Sung himself (aka, the founder of North Korea and their “Dear Leader” at the time). The tree, however, was likely a couple hundred years old and could not have been planted by Kim Il-Sung. UNCSB moved forward with trimming the poplar tree. As they were trimming the tree, a truck with about 30 KPA soldiers came and immediately started attacking members of the UNCSB. They stole the axes of the men and killed Captain Bonifas and First Lieutenant Barrett – both of whom were US Army Officers.

It was after this incident that the MDL (Military Demarcation Line) was recognized and it was agreed that North Korea would patrol and control the North Koreas side of the MDL, while South Korea would control the South Korean side of it. The Visitor’s Center details many other incidents that happened at the JSA – including a kidnapping of an elderly woman and her son while they were tending to their rice fields in Daesongdong (aka, “Freedom Village” which is located on the South Korean side of the MDL), the defection of a Soviet journalist who ran across the border into South Korea (which led to a skirmish between KPA and ROKA soldiers and which resulted in the death of six KPA soldiers, including the one who had instigated the Panmunjom Axe Murder Incident eight years earlier), as well as the many times when KPA soldiers attacked at random.

The Bridge of No Return

After the Visitor’s Center, we got back into the bus to drive along the MDL. We were able to see the “Bridge of No Return” from the bus, and again from a lookout area. The bridge crosses over the MDL and is most famous for Operation Little Switch and Operation Big Switch. Following the Korean War, there had to be a solution for returning prisoners of war back to their homeland. Operation Little Switch was the “test run” of that solution, where they released POW’s by allowing them to cross over the bridge back to their home (or, in the case of UNC prisoners, cross over into South Korea where they could THEN return to their homeland). Nobody was forced to cross the bridge – they were all given the choice whether to stay or repatriate – but once they crossed, they were never allowed to change their mind.

This is where the bridge gets its name the “Bridge of No Return.” Operation Big Switch was the same as Operation Little Switch, just on a larger level, allowing tens of thousands of KPA, South Korean, UNC, and CPV prisoners return to their homelands. There were other prisoner exchanges over the years that occurred at the bridge. But because of growing safety concerns and a new route available between North and South Korea (called the “72-Hour Bridge”), the bridge was eventually blockaded off and is now guarded with active mines.

Kijongdong (aka, “The Propaganda Village)

We went to a lookout just up the hill from the Bridge of No Return where we were able to get a pretty good (albeit smoggy) view of the North Korean village of Kijongdong. We were able to see Kijongdong from the Dora Observatory on our trip to the DMZ, but seeing it so much closer was unreal. We could clearly see the flag pole (which stands at a whopping 525 feet high and is the fifth tallest flag pole in the world) with the massive 595-pound North Korean flag flying. The city looks nice from the outside, but most of the buildings are fake – they don’t have floors and some of them don’t even have real windows. Occasionally North Koreans can be seen in the town pretending to grocery shop or do other things, but it is believed that nobody lives in the town (which was originally created during times of great economic stress in the South and was meant to encourage people to defect to the North).

Even more wild: we could see a North Korean guard tower from where we stood and our tour guide told us that we could be 100% certain that we were being watched and filmed by the soldiers in there. As we walked up the street to the UNCMAC Conference Building (the blue building that we usually associate with the JSA), we had ROKA (Republic of Korea Army) soldiers walking alongside us the entire way, standing between us and the MDL. It was cool and honestly kind of nerve-racking because of how seriously they have to take it.

The Military Demarcation Line (MDL)

We finally arrived at the famous blue buildings that straddle the MDL and it was everything I could have dreamed of. You have to remember that this was something I’d dreamt of seeing since I was 15 years old and to be standing there IN PERSON, only a few meters away from North Korea was absolutely incredible and unmatched. Currently, there are no KPA soldiers stationed outside of Panmungak (the large building on the North Korean side of the MDL) because of Covid-19. Our tour guide explained to us that when North Koreans DO come out of the building, they do so in full hazmat suits because they don’t want to catch Covid from the South Korean and US soldiers. Even so, he told us that he was sure they were watching from the windows of the building and taking pictures of us.

Entering North Korea

After spending some time outside of the UNCMAC Conference Building, we had the opportunity to go inside the building where we got to cross to the other side of the room and OVER the MDL. So, while we didn’t get to have a stamp on our passport, we can now say that we have TECHNICALLY been IN North Korea. Just behind us was a ROKA soldier guarding a door that leads directly into North Korea. Normally, there would be KPA soldiers outside of the building on the North Korean side looking in the windows and taking pictures of us. But, again, because of Covid-19, they were not stationed outside and so we didn’t get to experience that. (Our tour guide said, “thankfully we don’t have to deal with them today” but in reality, it would have been kind of cool.)

Our trips to the DMZ and the JSA were UNFORGETTABLE. This is something that has always been on my bucket list, but I never thought I’d get to have this experience. Living in South Korea has given us so many incredible opportunities that I never would have thought we’d have. C and E probably don’t recognize now what an incredible trip this was. My only hope is that as they get older and they learn more, they can see that what we experienced was truly once-in-a-lifetime!

’til next time…

Ash

You may also enjoy: