Taesong-dong Travel Guide

 mke1963 Says:  Finally, after another twenty minutes crusing the brand new road, Imjin-gak, now called a 'resort' comes into view. It is a stretch of ramshackle museums, souvenir shops and artefacts from the war, cobbled together with a few quiet, solemn memorials and altars. Around the... 

 mke1963 Says:  The range of cultural attractions and interesting sites of the whole area north-west of Seoul have long been overshadowed by the military activities and fortifications in and behind the Demilitarized Zone. Life goes on, but it is under more scrutiny and tension than most... 

 mke1963 Says:  It is an unhappy ride for many Koreans, along the coastal highway to Imjin'gak on the banks of the Imjin-gang river. Steadily the fortifications increase, and from the outskirts of Seoul, the Hangang river, and then the Imjin-gang river are bordered by high barbed-wire... 

 mke1963 Says:  Unless the P’anmunjom JSA is on your itinerary, the only time you get inside the DMZ is at the Dora Observatory, which sits on top of a wooded ridge overlooking the wide shallow river valley that separates the two Koreas.The huge concrete facility was opend in September... 

 mke1963 Says:  The tunnel is about 1.8m in diameter and was constructed by blasting with dynamite.It has been calculated that the tunnel had the capcity to move one artillery division per hour, and that the exit point was intended to be just 44km from Seoul – the closest of the three known... 

 mke1963 Says:  The North Koreans have persistently constructed tunnels stretching from the North into South Korea, or at least the part of the Demilitarized Zone controlled by the South. Three tunnels have been discovered – or at least their discovery has been announced – and are now open... 

 mke1963 Says:  Here at the wistfully named Freedom Bridge, Koreans tread a solemn constant path to tie their wishes, dreams and hopes to the fence. Until several years ago, the rails of the single railway track were totally silent. Then after a North-South summit in 2001, a station was... 

 mke1963 Says:  A fading photograph, pinned to the chain-link fence, tells the whole story, identifying the members of a family still divided by the geopolitics of half a century. All the main actors from the military drama of the 1950s are long dead, although many soldiers, civilians and... 

 mke1963 Says:  This Google Map shows the Imjingak/Imjingang area in the foreground, with the Dora Observatory on the ridge. The two unnamed red dots at top left are the famous P'anmunjom JSA and the bridge by the old poplar tree - site of the massacre in August 1976.The yellow line is... 

 mke1963 Says:  Paju City has a very clever but very stylistic map of the whole DMZ aea around P'anmunjom. While not really detailed enough for walking, it does show all the sites very nicely. Unfortunately it is all in Korean.Go to the Paju website and click on the DMZ map icon on the...