Run DMZ

Today was not an ordinary day. It was the day of the annual DMZ International Peace Marathon, and we were both running in it. Now I’m no runner, but I signed up for the 5K just for the opportunity to visit the DMZ. Jen on the other hand, was signed up for the ½ marathon.

We woke up at 4:30 and caught a bus a city to school, and took a school bus to the town of Cheorwan, which abuts the DMZ.

It is shocking how close North Korea is to Seoul – less than a two hour drive. You don’t have to get too far north of the Han River (which goes right through Seoul) before the city gives way to rugged mountain countryside with a scattering of little villages. The closer we got to the border, the more traditional the houses became, with most of them sporting the tiled “Hanok” look that I find so charming. Then, when we were a few miles from Cheorwan, we found out why, instead of receiving a race shirt (which would have been AWESOME), we were each going to get a 3.5 kg bag of the local rice. The landscape around Cheorwan consists of a sea of rice paddies, with the rugged mountains of North Korea as a back drop. Apparently, this area is one of the main rice-growing regions of the country. And yes, we lugged home 7 kg of rice!

Our first glimpse of North Korea on the other side of sea of rice

As we got closer to the DMZ we reached a check point and traffic came to a stop. Outside the bus was a bomb-damaged building from the Korean War, so naturally we took pictures. Our friend Angie decided to take a picture of the checkpoint, and as soon as she did, a soldier with a huge assault rifle came striding towards us. We were sure he was going to take away her camera, but he was just making sure we all had permission to enter the security zone.

The ruins of a bombed out building

Remnants of a North Korean train car

Let me be clear, we did not enter the actual DMZ (very few humans ever do), but we did spend the morning a few feet from the razor-wire topped berms that form the boundary between the world as we know it, and a world we can’t imagine. On the other side of that fence are millions of landmines.. There was an eerie calm there, despite the large military presence. Looking out across the DMZ is not like looking at Mordor. Yes, on the other side of the two mile-wide valley you can see a few North Korean observation structures, but it doesn’t look at all the way I’ve always imagined it. I mean, this is supposed to be the stage where the first act of Armageddon is likely to be performed, and yet it looks… beautiful, serene, and remarkably peaceful. It took me a while to figure out why this is – this strip of land is the only place on the planet that doesn’t have any people.

Guard post on the edge of the DMZ

A tunnel through

Looking North

Is it irreverent to take selfies in a place like this?

The DMZ may be no man’s land, but many species thrive in this humanless sanctuary, where hunting, development, and habitat destruction are non-issues. Apart from the occasional boar that steps on a mine, this is a great place to be a wild animal. We visited the Cheorwan Crane Park, a museum and observation deck dedicated to the endangered red-crowned crane. Unfortunately this is the wrong season to see these magnificent and massive birds, but in the winter the place fills up with them. It’s weird to think that were it not for humanity’s perverse need to slaughter each other, this beautiful bird would no longer exist.

On the south side of the fence (where we were running) it was the humans that made it such an interesting day. You would think that this, of all military installations on the planet, would exude a badass come near us and we’ll kill you vibe, but instead there was a kind of cheerful isn’t it great that we have freedom vibe. Just look at the murals they painted on their walls.

I decided to call him Kombat Kitty

Kombat Kitty doing a little rope work

Kombat Kitty's friend: a red crowned crane in a dough boy helmet carrying a wingload of rice

The soldiers are all young men in their late teens and early twenties. Every male in Korea is required to serve in the military, so I don’t think they have a lot of career soldiers. At least that’s the sense I got. These guys were great. Intimidating enough in there camos, berets, and machine guns, but they smiled and joked around, and let you take pictures with them – unless they were guarding one of the tunnels that lead into the DMZ, in which case they were all business. There were hundreds of them participating in the run. They wore grey workout shirts that read “ROK Army.” It was fun to see them mugging for the girls at the water stations, but then saluting smartly when they passes a superior. I got the sense that this was a fun day off for them.

Ready to Race!

So once the race started, Jen took off on her typical 13.1 mile half marathon – except the distances were all in kilometers, so she had no idea how far she’d run. Still, she finished in a pretty typical time (a little slower than normal because she hasn’t been training as much as she would back home). Now I’ve watched my wife run a million races, but this is the first time that I did any running in one. Okay, I knew better than to overdo it, so I signed up for the 5 k, and you know what, it was great. The views were stunning, the temperature was lovely, and it felt great to be in a moving sea of humanity. I loved it.

As I ran past this sign I practiced my Hangul (Korean letters) and realized it says "Full Koh Seh"

The views to the south were stunning, so I didn't mind running

After I was done I met up with some of my colleagues and waited for Jen to finish. We bought some delicious onion and veggie pancake things from a vendor and had lunch. While we were eating I saw that they were selling bottles of a white liquid with sediment in the bottom. This being an area known for its rice, I figured this was either rice milk, rice water, or rice soda. I bought a bottle and shared it around, but it turned out to be something called makgeolli, which is alcoholic. Fortunately the bottle wasn’t that big and there were five of us, because alcohol after a race seems like a very bad idea.

Lunch time!

After lunch we went back to the finish line and waited for Jen to come through. Fortunately she didn’t get lost and end up in North Korea. We went and got our finisher’s swag – rice, a quick dry towel, and a medal.