South and North Korean flags as spotted from the Dora Observatory. Pictures: Anisha Bijukumar / The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Letter to Mother, penned by Lee Woo-geun in 1950s talks about the miseries of a young soldier fighting in the Korean war fought between North and South Korea. His hope to survive and be with his mother, his craving for lettuce-wrapped rice and his need to drink cold water from the fountain concludes with a cry of defeat as the enemy soldiers again start coming at this young soldier. The letter evokes such strong emotions that it could make a faint heart weep. This is just one of the portraits of soldiers, mostly teenage boys and juvenile warriors, who spent their young days on the battlefield more than 70 years ago, at a gallery in Camp Greaves.
Located 2km away from the Southern Limit Line of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, Camp Greaves is one of the oldest US military bases in South Korea.
One of the exhibit
Home to over 700 military men and women of the 506th US Second Infantry Division in the 1950s, the camp is today an art gallery further evolving into a centre for peace tourism through DMZ Peace Platform. The structures have been kept the same way as it was while occupied by the US military.
Letter to Mother written by Woo-Geun Lee, a student soldier (Inset of his photo and brief bio at the Camp Greaves Exhibition Hall)
The camp situated in Gyeonggi Province is now a popular tourist destination with signs and photo zones at various locations. Under the theme ‘Time Lost, Time Gained’, the artworks are all related to the Korean War.
An impactful artwork at the camp is the Powder Magazine, which is a concrete building so strong that it could withstand an explosion. The venue is home to installation ‘One’ by Myeongbeom Kim, which is a stuffed deer with huge antlers that stretch to look like tree branches and Lee Seunggeun’s ‘Do Not Cross This Line’, a projection mapping artwork in a pitch-dark room, both of which aim to promote peace.
Gallery Greaves Exhibition at the camp is yet another gallery displaying several artworks at a venue that was once the bowling alley for the US soldiers.
There are uniforms of the fallen soldiers on duty, a miniature replica of the bowling alley, huge cutouts of the young soldiers, personal letters such as the one written by Lee Woo-geun, stories of war witnesses such as that of American war correspondent Marguerite Higgins, who became the first female Pulitzer Prize for Correspondence winner in 1951, among other things. Canned meals, plates, bowls and spoons, gloves, vinyl records, tool kits, and helmets form part of the daily life exhibit at the Camp Greaves Headquarters Company Office.
Life across borders
When former US President Donald Trump shook hands with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2019, and a few months later popular Netflix K-drama ‘Crash Landing on You’ was released, the already popular tourist destination Dora Observatory received another boost.
The Dora Observatory
Located atop Dorasan or Dora Mountain, the binoculars placed at the observatory give a glimpse into life across borders.
One can spot the villages along the borders, the barbed wires and the rival national flags on tall flagpoles (North Korea’s Panmunjeom flagpole is among the tallest in world) that demarcate both the Korean peninsula. North Korea’s Kaesong Industrial Complex, located 10km north of the DMZ, can also be spotted from the observatory. The tall industrial complex stands apart from the small villages that line up along the North Korean border.
“Viewing the borders and the villages through those binoculars, one wonders about the lives of those across the borders. It makes you compare how life is probably different for those living on the two sides of a single line called border,” said one of the visitors at the Dora Observatory.
The observatory, which opened in January 1987, features 500 seats, VIP rooms and abundant parking space.
South Korean DMZ from Mount Dora
Visiting the DMZ
The DMZ is located in a restricted zone, visitors need permits and follows strict curfew hours, even for those living in the villages inside the zone. There is a checkpoint just beyond the Unification Bridge where every visitor’s passport or identity is scrutinised carefully. In fact, visitors are informed well in advance that clicking pictures at random places is prohibited.
The best and most-advised way to have a complete DMZ experience is to be part of a tour group with registered guide. But the place holds so much history and so much to see that a single visit can never be enough; yet its a start towards understanding the site that is known to outsiders as the most heavily militarised place in the world.
