Korea and the DMZ

Mom and I set off on a group tour with the Korean Travel Bureau for our trip to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.  This is a trip that can only be done on an organized tour.  We hopped on the two large tour buses, one for the Japanese, and the other for English speakers (Europeans, too). 

After some memorial sightings, we were off to

writing clearly still in progress!!!
No koreans allowed on this tour.
Freedom Bridge/ Imjingak. Prisoners of war crossed this bridge after Korean War looking forward to freedom
rocks in fences.
Bridge of No Return - prisoner repatriation operations. prisoners were exchanged on this bridge however, once crossed, they could not return.
Camp Bonifas - named after Lt. Bonifas who was killed in the tree chopping incident.
JSA/ Panmunjeom - when important meeting is held, this area is crowded with guards and newsmen.
dress code/ shoes
no cases.
switching to military bus. Our minder who stuck with us the whole time
had to follow a military personnel jeep
passport checks
no pointing/ hand gestures. north propaganda (other american on our tour pointed)
regulated picture taking
some rules: Any equipment, microphones or flags belonging to the communist side in the MAC conference room are not to be touched.  Do not speak with, make any gesture toward or in any way approach or respond to personnel from the other side
Military Demarcation Line bisecting North from South in JSA
United Nations Command
Tree incident. since this incident, it was agreed to separate the JSA (demarcation line) in half to separate sentries.
Panmungak of North Korea. binoculars. cameras.
camera lense 200 mm zoom enforcement
farming in the DMZ. Freedom Village and the propaganda village on the North.
-- Freedom Village, about 500 villagers. they can farm, and have 8x the size of the average korean in rice paddy area, so they make a good amout of money, average $80,000 annual.  it is a dangerous area. and have to lock doors at night in case of kidnapping from the north. there is no nightlife. there is only 1 primary school, and no higher. there used to be more villagers here, which existed before the korean war, but after the line was drawn, these 500 or so decided to stay.  they dont have to pay taxes, and they can go into city, or outside of area with special passbooks/ id.
Korean flag pole sizes. north koreas is the tallest and largest in the world.