The DMZ Continued

This is a North Korean soldier standing guard. There were sooo many rules before we could enter the Joint Security Area (JSA), like we could not smile, wave or make any hand gestures at or in the direction of the North Korean soldiers.
The North and South have a rivalry going about who is more important. When one country builds something, the other retaliates with a bigger and better one. For example, this is the North Korean flag in what the South refers to a propaganda village. Aparently, not a soul lives in the actual village, but workers come day in and day out to turn on the lights and play anti-American and South propaganda. The flag pole is over 160m tall and the flag is 30m long. This was built in response to the South Koreans putting up a pole that stood 100m tall in their territory.
Paul, Kerry, Paula and I at the JSA.
The concrete slab is the border of North and South Korea. The North side (which I am standing on) consists of only dirt, while the South is rocks. The soldier that you see is a South Korean. They have to stand like that (with one eye and leg on the enemy) in 30 minute rotations all the time. Picture of the JSA. The JSA is run by the United Nations, so on our tour we had to wear UN badges. Before we were allowed to enter the JSA we all had to sign a liability waver saying that if we die from enemy artillary, they held no responsibility (it was very heartwarming)... though they do claim that no one has been injured in the 30 years of tours.