Unknown territory

At a certain point in history Korea was referred to as The Hermit Kingdom, because it had little contact with the outside world. These days that label is being applied to neigbouring North Korea, which has become an extremely isolated nation. But last weekend we managed to briefly set foot on North Korean territory, quite an event... Ok, anyone with $40 and a day to spare can enjoy this 'privilege', but it was thrilling nonetheless! This tour to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between North & South-Korea had been on Vaughan's wishlist for quite a while, and luckily he found an ally in my good friend Liesbeth, who's been studying North Korean issues for 2 years. She organised the whole thing -merci!- and was understandably extremely excited when we were finally admitted into the Joint Security Area by the US Military. The hours previous to this had been rather wet and dull, but everyone certainly paid attention when seeing the physical border & thinking about what kind of existence lies accross the DMZ... "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il may persist in calling his country "Prosperous and Great", but figures show that large parts of the North Korean population are starving and that human rights abuses are rife. Not that I'm an expert on the matter, but the price his people are paying for an ideology seems far to great.

Earlier in the day we were taken to view the DMZ, but due to bad weather it was almost completely invisible. Piet's got the direction right though! Le moment supreme: admittance into the Joint Security Area, or the actual border between North & South (it's the concrete slab in the middle of the picture). The grey building in the back is North Korean territory and the staunch soldier on the steps certainly looked uninviting...

After a long day full of stories of international conflict we definitely needed some down-time, and a party with Piet playing saxophone was just the remedy :-). (Gotta love our blouses, by the way!)

Piet & Liesbeth were excellent hosts as always and cooked up a feast several times. Like all true chefs Piet favors fresh produce, so at Garak market he decided to purchased some live octopus! Photos of the animals holding on for dear life in the kitchen can be found on my Yahoo site, it's not a pretty sight...