Surrealism

South Korean soldier in staredown with DPRK soldier

All of this talk about North Korea pressing ahead with their nuclear program and the picture above posted on Drudge made me think of one of the most surreal places I have ever visited.

The picture is of the DMZ, Panmunjeom to be exact. I suppose for the majority of the world that has never been to such a place my meager attempt at describing it will fail to adequately paint a picture. But I will try because it is interesting and it is a wonderful commentary on the silliness that man engages in.

The fellow in the foreground is a ROK soldier, obviously the other cat is a DRPK (North Korean) soldier. The little bit of concrete to the North Korean's left is the actual border. To the right of the picture in the "conference room" with the table equally divided between north and south. There are entrances on each end. The building is used to provide a forum to discuss issues of immediate import. It is also the site where the original armistice was negotiated.

The surreal part of all of this is that the two soldiers above stare each other down all day. Of course they rotate shifts and let their buddies have a turn at staring down the opposing bad guys but this goes on pretty much everyday, all day- sun rain, sleet and snow.

Of course just looking big and bad is not enough, each side recruits their biggest and baddest for the job. Six foot, chiseled chinned, wide shouldered young men are not the rule in Korea but they are a prerequisite for assignment to this duty.

When I was last there I was inside the conference room, actually on the North Korean side of the border (when visitors from either side are in the building the other side is not supposed to go in). I was standing beside the window and suddenly got that feeling you get when someone is watching you. I turned around and discovered a North Korean soldier just inches away looking at me with all the hate and disgust he could muster. I was most amazed that I had to look up to him, something I am not accustomed to in Korea and something I certainly would not expect from soldiers that are supposed to be under fed. (I figured out later that he was standing on a ledge under the window - he obviously wanted to look big and bad for me).

How silly this all is. Two nations, the same people and all the pomp and circumstance surrounding a hatred that is merely 50 or so years old.