, to visit the DMZ at Panmunjom. The road was once again virtually deserted
- for long stretches we were the only vehicle to be seen on either side
of the road from horizon to horizon. On our way back at night we even
encountered unilluminated cyclists going the wrong way in the fast
lane! Our guide asked us to identify the tall concrete structures
placed periodically along the road; they turned out to be tank traps
that with the help of a small explosive would block the road and halt
any Imperialist invaders.
The landscape was brown, dusty and hilly - not unlike inland Australia or central California. The countryside was dotted with ramshackle little villages. We noted that every village had at least one large red hillside slogan placed nearby, so that the residents couldn't help but get one dose of propaganda a day. Even out in the country.
The DMZ - a demilitarized zone 2km each side of the border - wasn't
particularly impressive as they naturally weren't going to drive us
past any places of military interest. We spotted the huge opposing
flagpoles with the 2 Korean flags, and heard the thunderous music being
broadcast from the NK side. The treaty village of Panmunjom
inside the DMZ is a fascinating place: there the North and South stand
literally face to face on an unfenced border. The tourists on either side also
stand face to face, but unfortunately there weren't any on the South
side that day. According to Lonely Planet, if you want to visit
Panmunjom from the South you have to book way in advance, lay down big
bucks, and be subjected to all sorts of clothing restrictions
(including: no jeans or runners - exactly what we were wearing). We
were given a personal guided tour by one of the soldiers, who took us
into one of the seven huts that exactly straddle the border.
Inside, we
were invited to sit at a negotiating table that itself also straddles
the border! In this hut we could cross the most heavily guarded
frontier on earth by just walking around a table. As we were about to
leave, a US soldier 
sauntered up to the borderline outside the hut and stared at the North Koreans
from behind his sunglasses in a manner that they certainly seemed to find provocative -
even though they also had a soldier positioned less than an inch from the line on our side.
On the drive down, I had asked our guide what would happen if I walked over into the Southern side at Panmunjom. He assured me I would be shot. But by who? "The Americans".
Our guide then took us to a number of buildings and gave us the North's view of history - that they had been attacked in 1950, that the Americans constantly violated treaties by bringing weapons into the DMZ, and that the `Hatchet Incident' (in which an American soldier was hacked to death with a North Korean axe) was a case of justifiable self defense. The soldier denied that NK had the fifth-largest army in the world and that it consisted of 1 million troops. If I'd mentioned it, he would no doubt have denied that the North had often been caught tunneling under the border.
It was a very interesting visit, and as we left we were requested to make a brief statement (this was often asked of us - you have to think fast and be very diplomatic!). We assured our hosts that we shared their wish for a speedy reunification with the South.