Stepping Over The Border Into North Korea: The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)
North Korea – a country ruled by a tyrant with it’s people living in a brainwashed, totalitarian world.
It’s a huge contrast from it’s first-world, developed neighbors in the South.
It’s a strange thing that you can live and teach English in Seoul, have an amazing lifestyle and make good money in a safe and exciting city… And then drive an hour North and be at the most militarized border in the world.
Go ahead watch the video I made of me going to the eery Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and actually stepping over the border:
This was one of the highlights of my year in Korea.
It’s strange how few Koreans seem to do the tour of the border…
Perhaps it’s a little too painful as there is a deep longing in the collective unconscious of the South Koreans for the unification of the two halves of the Korean peninsular.
As a foreigner it helped me to understand the intense history of conflict the country has experienced.
The sad thing is Koreans are all one people and the splitting of their home led to the separation of thousands of families.
It also made me grateful the opportunity to live and teach in South Korea, where there is freedom of speech and a culture of kindness and generosity among the people.
One thing to note is that despite the conflict in the past and the close proximity to North Korea, right now South Korea is one of the safest countries in the world to live in.
There is a lot of flexing of muscles between the two but it’s not something you need to worry about if you decide to come teach here. You can go ahead and tell your family and friends, that no, going to Korea is not in immanent danger of nuclear war and that your decision to teach in Korea isn’t a reckless one. 😉
If you want to find out more about getting started teaching here, check out our free guide on how to get a job teaching English in Korea making $2000+ a month (in 3 months or less) here.