What few people realize is that the hostilities between North and South Korea are still going on. There was never a treaty officially ending the war. In fact, it's merely a cease-fire that can be broken at any point. And as was the case a few weeks ago, it is always teetering on being broken. North Korean guards at the border each carry weapons to shoot each other if one should try to defect. There have also been reported cases of North Korean soldiers trying to pull the South Korean guards over on to that side. It was a very tense area with all of the guards on edge.
South Korean Border Guard guarding the N. Korean door in one of the buildings that overlaps the North and South Korean sides.
North Korean guards checking us out and posturing while the S. Korean guards are looking around. The border is the stone block where the N. Korean guard is standing.
North Korean border buildings and guard tower. North Korean buildings are silver/white and South Korean buildings are blue.
Now the North Koreans are taking pictures of all of us standing there looking at them and taking pictures. They had photographers all over their side taking our pictures.
One of Kim Jong Il's propaganda cities along the border. It's a fake city - no one lives there. They used to blare propaganda from loudspeakers. It could even be heard in S. Korea. The big pole in the middle is a flag for North Korea - I believe it's the largest flag in the world with steel reinforcements.
One of the POW bridges where POWs were marched across in prisoner exchanges between the countries during the war.
A South Korean guard at his post, putting one eye around the corner.
