South, North Korea standoff in the military zone
A lone North Korean guard looks down upon us through his binoculars. The border - a low lying slab of concrete - is just metres away.
We are at at the Joint Security Area inside the Demilitarised Zone. It is the front line of a war that technically is still not over more than 60 years after the last bullet was fired.
The DMZ is a bit of a misnomer,with soldiers heavily armed but inside the JSA - a kind of neutral zone -they just carry pistols.
It is of little comfort though given recent renewal of tensions between the south and north. Our South Korean soldier/tour guide tells us shots exchanged on Sunday happened just 10 minutes away.
It seems even little things can get the North offside - one newspaper is reporting the South is taking down a Christmas tree because it upset the atheist North.
EDUCATION DRIVES SOUTH KOREA'S GROWTH
WIRED FOR COMMUNICATION, TIED TO AUSTRALIA
IN SEARCH OF AN UNDERSTANDING OF SOUTH KOREA
After a short film giving the background to the JSA rich on pro-South propaganda, we board our military bus to the JSA.
Upon our arrival I am struck by the eerie feeling. The JSA is dominated by the imposing buildings used by each respective side while in the middle are the low-lying blue and grey structures used when officials from the North and South meet each other.
About a dozen soldiers accompany the 25 or so foreign journalists.
They stand on guard like statues, their facial muscles frozen underneath their Rayban Aviators.
we are told to walk in two lines , make no hand gestures to the North Korean soldiers and stay within the designated area. With only one North Korean in sight, I actually feel pretty safe, and it is hardly like anyone is going to defect. Nonetheless the soldiers must stay alert to an omnipresent threat.
What also struck me is how peacefully silent the JSA is. Visitors talk quietly among themselves as camera shutters go off. The only shooting today is people taking photos.
Andrew Tillett is in Korea for the Walkley Foundation as part of the 2014 Australian Journalists Exchange sponsored by the Australia Korea Foundation and the Korean Press Foundation.
