The most dangerous spot on earth

This is the fence that separates us from the DMZ.  The DMZ is the 4 kilometers of land between North and South Korea that the two countries share.  We got to go in the DMZ where there were all kinds of soldiers with guns but we were not allowed to take pictures!  If you look closely you can see stones in the fence.  It is illegal for people in North Korea to leave but sometimes they try.  If they try to get over the fence, the stones will fall and make noise and the North Korean troops will come arrest them.

South Korean soldiers getting ready to go into the DMZ.

We were not allowed to take pictures of the North Korean villages but they were quite interesting.  There were fake houses and buildings and people there to make it look like North Korea was fun and that the people liked living there.  They were just fake though.  The real villages were behind the fake ones with people who are not very happy and don't have much food.



This bridge used to go between North and South Korea but after the Korean War it now stops and no longer goes into North Korea.  There is another bridge that does go between the two countries that the man that started the car company Hyundai built.  He used to live in North Korea but one day he stole one of his parents cows and and snuck out of the country.  Once he started the car company and made lots of money he paid the North Korean government to be able to build a bridge and bring in 1001 cows to his parents to apologize for stealing one.  He gave the cows also so his parents and friends could have food because millions of people die from starvation in North Korea.



This is the last point where we could take pictures.  We put on hard hats after this and went into a tunnel that the North Koreans had built to secretly sneak into South Korea and try to capture them.  They want to rule over South Korea and they think we in the US are bad for trying to protect South Korea.  We got to meet a lady from North Korea who snuck away.  She used to teach preschool in North Korea.  I asked her if the kids got to play ever and she said the only game she could play in school was the kids were given a picture of the United States and they had to hit it and break it with a hammer and pull out the South Koreans to save them from us.
P.S. The troops in this picture were not working here.  They were still in school and on a field trip to learn about the DMZ!

Even though North and South Korea do not get along and are at war, North Korea still allows South Korea to have a couple of factories there.  So each day a few South Koreans get on this train and go into North Korea to work in the factories.