PANMUNJEOM

Upon arrival, you will be taken to a two-storey pavilion called the House of Liberty. From here, you can see the northern buildings opposite. The Dongilgak was surpassed in height in 1989 by the Peace House building in the South. In response, the North Koreans built a third floor to their Panmungak, the equivalent of the South Freedom House. It is one of the examples of the small ideological war being waged here. You are then taken to the MAC building, which is nothing more than a small, unpretentious prefabricated room, but where meetings are held. They don't lead to much most of the time, but it's a very important place in the event of an "incident", because that's where disputes and tensions are resolved. You are allowed to enter the building, which is guarded outside and inside by soldiers from both sides, facing each other, motionless. You can cross the border that theoretically passes in the middle of the room, and return to the South to continue the visit.

You will then be taken to an observation post from which you can see the North. There you can see the "propaganda village". It is said that all the buildings are only facades, that the smoke coming out of the chimneys is a decoy, that the inhabitants are none other than Gaeseong people brought by bus in the morning and brought back in the evening and who play at living here. We don't know if this too is propaganda, but the messages broadcast all over the mountain by loudspeakers are. Huge anti-American or pro-communist slogans are written on the hillsides.

If you need more, you can join a guided tour of the third infiltration tunnel. Dug under the DMZ and discovered in 1978, it is 1.6 km long and 2 m high. It was capable of opening the southern route for one armed division per hour.

The first tunnel was discovered by chance in 1974. Subsequent research revealed three others in 1975, 1978 and 1990. After visiting the tunnel where there is nothing to see except soldiers guarding the way, you can get a good view of North Korea from the Dora observatory.

Daeseongdong, or the village of reunification, is inhabited by villagers who have decided to stay in their homeland despite the dangers involved. They are subject to a curfew and numerous controls on their movements. In return, they are favoured over other peasants.

You will certainly leave stunned and disturbed by this surreal visit.