Visit to the Demilitarized Zone, the border of North Korea, on Monday, March 28.
We are sorry it has taken us so long to complete this post - our lives have been more than full during the past 2 weeks. After visiting the school for North Korean defectors in Seoul, we were met by Brother Choe and 2 of his close pastor friends in their church van. As we were driving with the very modern prosperous city on one side of the interstate, we began seeing the barbed wire barricades and sentry towers on the other.
Our first stop was at this museum and observation point on a hill overlooking the Imjin River.
Click the picture to enlarge and read the plaque about this altar.
That is North Korea across the river. It surely is a land that exemplifies the World Missions Theme "Beyond the Walls".
One of the propaganda villages we could see across the river
The official position of the North Korean government is that the village contains a 200 family communal farm, kindergarden, schools, and hospital. However, observation from the South shows that the town is actually an uninhabited village built at great expense during the 1950's to encourage South Korean defectors and to house North Korean soldiers manning the heavily fortified DMZ. Though no visitors are allowed, it is the only settlement in North Korea within direct eye- and earshot of the Korean DMZ. Though the buildings seem to have electricity with lights set to come on at times, scrutiny with modern telescopic lenses reveals that most buildings are mere concrete shells lacking window glass or even interior rooms. (Wikipedia)
Our next stop was at the Freedom Bridge
This is the Bell of Peace, built in 2000, wishing for the peace of mankind and the reunification of Korea. It weighs 21 tons. We did not get to hear it.
Brother Dupre and Brother Hawkins with North Korea only a short distance beyond them. So near, yet a world away.
Freedom Bridge
This bridge became infamous when it was used to allow the thousands of South Korean and American POWs to cross to freedom from North Korea. The name came from the shouts of "Hurrah for Freedom" as the men crossed the bridge. We realize that even now there are millions of people effectively held prisoner in their own country.
This is the remnants of a train that was caught in the middle of an ambush in the DMZ during the Korean War. It is filled with bullet holes, yet the conductor survived.
Pastor Choe is explaining that these ribbons are used by people to remember family or friends still in the North. It is sad that many people were separated from homes and relatives when they fled from the North during the conflict 58 years ago, or who have defected in the years since 1953.
3 comments:
Those walls will come down one day. God has already said so. Praying.
Even looking at these pictures it is hard to comprehend a life like the North Korean must live.....God forgive me for any complaining I have done for my simple everyday inconvieniances. I miss you both...
My name is Ed Raver. I was stationed just North of Freedom Bridge for 2-1/2 years in 66-68 with the 2nd Infantry Division. Your pictures sent me back 44 years. Back then Freedom Bridge was a nearly failing bridge with a wooden deck. MOST of all the picture of the train was amazing. It previously rested deeper inside the DMZ. I have a photo of me standing on top of it in 1967. It was said to be an engine from the Orient Express, but who knows. The engine along with several cars were shot off the tracks right next to a cemetary with huge headstones, some 8 feet high or more,which had suffered many firefights. Many thanks for the work you are doing in Korea. Truly a special people with a place in my heart.
Ed Raver 505-281-0808 Thank You
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