Korea, 28 Oct 2010, Day 1, The Road to Imjjingak

The road to Imjingak (Sector 6 of the De-Militarized Zone). Imjingak is popular with tourists because it is possible to visit the site without obtaining security clearance. The riverbanks at the shallow bends were dotted with hundreds of migratory birds.


The view from the car - Yeongjong Bridge (linking Incheon to mainland Korea)

The cables suspending the bridge

A view of the Great Incheon Bridge from Yeongjong Bridge

Guard Posts along the river bank facing North Korea

Barb wire fence line the entire boundary facing the North Korea bank.

Kijong-dong, a propaganda town on the North Korea bank seen as white flecks from a moving vehicle.
Close-up shots of Kijong-dong available from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kij%C5%8Fng-dong

Kijong-dong features a number of brightly painted, poured-concrete multi-story buildings and apartments with electric lighting -- features represented an unheard of level of luxury for rural Koreans, north or south, in the 1950s. The town was oriented so that the bright blue roofs and white sides of the buildings would be the most distinguishing features when viewed from the border. However, scrutiny with modern telescopic lenses reveals that the buildings are mere concrete shells lacking window glass or even interior rooms, with the building lights turned on and off at set times and the empty sidewalks swept by a skeleton crew of caretakers in an effort to preserve the illusion of activity.