Clark Miljush Blog 6-30-09

We went to the DMZ today. When we arrived it was obvious that the South Koreans are prepared for a potential invasion. One way they are prepared that I found interesting was the huge blocks of concrete supported over the roads. In the event of an invasion the supports would be destroyed by detonating charges and thus blocking North Korean vehicles from traveling into South Korea. The actual land between North and South Korea has become an uninhabited, beautiful area of nature.

The other neat adventure we went on in the DMZ was exploring the tunnels that North Korea had built to invade the south. The tunnels were dug through solid granite several hundred feet below the surface. There is actually four tunnels that were discovered since the mid seventies, some of them are actually large enough to drive vehicles through.

There was a building that was devoted to the history of the DMZ. I had never heard of the many confrontations between North and South Korean troops, and the US soldiers that were killed in the DMZ. Some of the incidents were sever enough that the two sides could have gone to war again, yet South Korea's desire to reunite peacefully instead of through war has shown through. I truly admire their commitment to peace and unity of the Korean peninsula.