Besides the office building, we walked to Goseokjeong that is one of 8 wonderful sceneries in Cheorwon located on midstream of Hantan River. It was considered extraordinary as there was a huge rock in the middle of the river and it has been well-known since early Joseon period. The weather was a little grey yet comfortable and we were lucky that the weather was not so cold.
At around 11am, all the cars lined up at the parking space, waiting to depart with the guide. It took about 10 minutes to reach 2nd tunnel after passing through the check point. At 2nd and 4th tunnel, the security was not that tight as passports were not needed for registration.
After parking the car, we went to the entrance of the 2nd tunnel where the soldiers gave each of us a helmet for safety sake. The 2nd tunnel is the longest tunnel among all the four tunnels and it was narrower than the 3rd tunnel therefore there is no monorail in the tunnel. It was discovered on March 19th, 1975 by S. Korean Army and it is located between 50 and 160m below ground, but is larger than the first, approximately 2m by 2m. Photography was not allowed in the tunnel and for the respect of the people who died building this tunnel, I thought it was good to just enter and feel the tunnel without photography since there are places where photos couldn't express and only our hearts could feel it. The tunnel was dim and dripping with spring water since it was situated underneath the mountain. The guide brought us to the end where tourists could go and the end was blocked by locked gate with minimum security. It took us about 30 minutes to finish the tunnel and we set off for the Cheorwon Peace Observatory.
At the peace observatory, the guide explained to us in Korean about the 1.5km border between North and South Koreas and he also explained about Taebong Capital Site that was also the last dynasty in Korea. After the speech, we walked around the observatory and only taking photos at designated locations.
After the observatory, we drove to Cheorwon Crane Museum to look at the exhibited migratory birds available in the border. We also went to Woljeongri Station that is the last station of the Gyeongwon line near the demilitarized zone where the division took place. We could also see the remains of the train broken by bombing during Korean War. When everything was finished, we left the security checkpoint again and outside the checkpoint, we stopped by the North Korean Labor Party Headquarters which was where patriots and innocent citizens were tortured and killed during 5 years of communist dictatorship until it was bombed by China, leaving only the building structure. Walking around the building, my friend and I were discussing how this could have happened just 50 years ago and it seemed too quiet and eerie as many people had died during that period.
It seems so far yet it happened within a century and Korea is still going through the unification struggle between the two political parties. Actually we left with heavy hearts as we felt that we were really fortunate to be born in the period where there is no war in our countries and we hope that Korea can also find its peace soon.
"The true traveler is he who goes on foot, and even then, he sits down a lot of the time." – Colette (1873~1954)
No comments:
Post a Comment