By Kim Young-jin
HAEAN, Gangwon Province ― Students and officials celebrated Wednesday after hiking to the Ulchi Observation Deck nestled near the border with North Korea, completing a march to promote unification of the sides.
The hike to the UNC-controlled tower that looks over the tense Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) straddling the sides was part of a youth workshops organized by the Ministry of Unification.
Upon arrival, the nearly 330 junior, high to university students were treated to a close look at the DMZ and a spectacular view of the “Punchbowl,” a verdant valley that was a key battleground during the 1950-53 Korean War.
They could even peer across at the communist neighbor that many say their generation has little interest in.
“Students only learn about the issue from books and television,” Surl Jee-woo, a high school student from Incheon said. “Looking at the North Korean side and really seeing the separation, I see the serious need for reunification.”
Chung Hee-soo, now attending Wellesley College in the United States said it took her overseas experience to open her eyes.
“People abroad ask me if I’m from North or South Korea. It was frustrating but made me realize I didn’t know that much about the unification issue either,” she said.
“It feels really strange seeing that such a thin line causes so much tension,” she added.
The March for Peace and Unification coincided with the signing of the July 27, 1953 armistice that ended the war.
Fifty-eight years later, tensions remain high despite the sides agreeing in 2000 to work towards reunification. Many say young people, who would bear the brunt of the projected economic burden, are disinterested in North Korean issues due to busy academic lives and a major cultural gap with the impoverished North.
Experts say that unification could cost the South upwards of $1 trillion.
The Lee Myung-bak administration has placed high priority on building a national consensus on unification including through educative programs for students.
The efforts, which include plans for a special tax to shoulder the burden, have drawn the ire of Pyongyang which says they aim to undermine its Stalinist regime.
Still, Seo Jung-bae, director of education services at the ministry’s Education Center for Unification, the organizer of the march, said such efforts must continue.
“Young people don’t get a lot of opportunities to deal with the unification issue,” he said. “These activities allow them to talk about it and see what kind of work needs to be done to prepare.”
The activities near the border also included a trip to a tunnel dug by North Korean forces to infiltrate the South, which was discovered in 1990, a visit to an ecological site and various team-building activities.
The workshops wrap up today with a special concert at the MBC Dream Center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province.
One North Korean defector participating in the march said the high turnout boded well for the nation.
“I’m surprised,” he said. “It’s an important step.”
The administration has launched a series of domestic forums to gather support for unification and plans to do the same in key countries abroad.
Tensions between the sides, still technically in a state of war, remain high after two deadly provocations waged by the North last year.