FactSmoking - Korea

War-Zone Tourist

2007-02-04T23:02:00.000-05:00

Looking out over the DMZ into the drab proto-industrial North Korean villages along the border.

Back Behind the Iron Curtain Again...

2007-02-04T22:45:00.000-05:00

Just to see what life is like on the other side of the table, I visited North Korea for a short period of time. Things were pretty quiet over there, though I did get a little hungry.

North Korean Observation

2007-02-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

More than fifty years of an uneasy truce have been witnessed from a short distance by intently impassive North Korean soldiers....

"So, picture yourself looking through MacArthur's aviator glasses..."

2007-01-28T02:33:00.000-05:00

Our DMZ guide, an Australian Defence Forces officer serving in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission, would be great at shadow puppets.

James, Ron and I.

2007-01-28T02:27:00.000-05:00

"Try to stay away from that area over there..."

2007-01-28T02:22:00.000-05:00

Overlooking the DMZ

King Ripper

2007-01-28T02:17:00.000-05:00

"King Ripper" could be a Seventies longhair-band name, but in fact this is James King (L) and Ron Ripper (R), my two local traveling companions and ever-present guides.

"Is that a cloud or a very old MiG?"

2007-01-28T02:02:00.000-05:00

Touring the lovely Panmunjeom area, within the DMZ.

"Driver, head north"

2007-01-28T01:00:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Korea not far from MacArthur's Inchon landing spot - which I asked to have pointed out to me as we drove around the Peninsula. The map book in my sedan was entirely in Korean (of which I am of course completely ignorant), which certainly tested my ability to read just the geographic aspects on the page. The only Korean word I know is "barbecue" :-)