Diplomats explore Korea's historic DMZ
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Ava Sutherland-Hay, British Ambassador Charles Hay’s first daughter, visits the Woljeongri Station of the Gyeongwon Railway in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, on Sept. 6. / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk
By Rachel Lee
“Seeing here, it's one of the strangest places on earth because I feel it's very beautiful,” British Ambassador Charles Hay said after visiting the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
“Yet, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers on each side watching each other all the time.
The ambassador was among foreign diplomats who participated in the DMZ tour, part of 12th Cheorwon Demilitarized Zone International Peace Marathon on Sept. 7.
The marathon, hosted by The Hankook Ilbo and Cheorwon County of Gangwon Province, started at the DMZ Peace Culture Square near the Woljeongri Station of Gyeongwon Railway in front of the south limit line. More than 7,000 runners competed in the marathon.
Heikki Ranta, chairman of Finland Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Korea, looks around remains of a train that the North Korean army used at the Woljeongri Station on Sept. 6.
Once a North Korean county, Cheorwon was North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s potential spot for a capital, but it ended up straddling the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), divided in two by the four-kilometer-wide DMZ.
After the marathon, the tour began at Woljeongri Station, the final point of the southern part of the railroad line, where there are remains of a train that the North Korean army used, with a sign reading, “The iron horse wants to run.”
As part of commemorative projects to mark the 70th year of liberation, the South Korean government started restoring the southern part of the railway in July.
The group then visited the Cheorwon Peace Observatory, which offers a panoramic view of the DMZ and of the North.
Interns from the Embassy of Denmark — Maja Elkjaer Tarpgard, second from left, Nam Quoc Minh Nguyen, center, Benjamin Garne Jakobsen, second from right, and Nicklas Schreiber Echsner-Rasmussen, far right — pose for photos with a South Korean soldier at the second North Korean subterranean tunnel on Sept. 6.
The diplomats traveled to the observatory by monorail.
“You get a sense that this was meant to be a temporary thing, and it’s still here, 70 years later, which nobody would ever have expected,” Hay said.
The last stop was the second North Korean subterranean tunnel discovered in 1975. Located 106 kilometers north of Seoul, the excavation began after two South Korean soldiers reported hearing explosions in 1973.
During a search of the tunnel, land mine explosions killed eight South Korean soldiers.
North Korea would have been able to use the 3.5-kilometer tunnel to infiltrate the South with more than 16,000 soldiers per hour in double or triple columns.
Diplomats watch an introductory video at the Cheorwon Peace Observatory on Sept. 6.
The first tunnel was found in 1974 near Gorang-po, nearly 1.6 kilometers into South Korean territory.
“The beautiful fields of rice were amazing,” said Zaal Tchkuaseli, a counselor at the Embassy of Georgia. “It’s sad that this place where nature is flourishing, this place where you can see such diverse flora and fauna, is at the same time a place of constant military tensions between the two sides.
The British ambassador added, “Who knows how much longer it's going to be like this. Obviously everybody hopes, I think, that it will end and the Korean peninsula will be unified again.”
British Ambassador Charles Hay comes out from the second North Korean subterranean tunnel, which was discovered in 1973.
British Ambassador Charles Hay visits the Woljeongri Station of the Gyeongwon Railway in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province, on Sept. 6.