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Show The Salt Lake Tribune TRAVEL _Sunday, 1, 1998 Touring Korea’s DMZ,the'Last Cold War Flash Point BY PAULINE JELINEK ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PANMUNJOM,South Korea — Thetour guide carries a side arm and asks laughingly if anyone on thebus is a North Korean spy. Many tour agencies book tours near the North Korea border and into the tunnels, “No photos allowed on this road,” he says as the bus moves along.“. book those that go into the .On your left andright DMZ.They are: are live mine fields running from coast to coast. @ Korean Veterans Associa- In rain or shine, several times a Phone: (82-2) 266-3350 Fax: (82-2) 253-8478 Address: 202 Shilla Hotel day, six days a week, tour buses drive into the Demilitarized Zone separating communist North Ko- Duty Free Shop, Se rea from democratic South Korea — the world’s last Cold War flash point and a travel destination unique in international tourism. A side trip can be arranged to oneofseveralinfiltration tunnels Cutting Edge dong, 2 ga Chung-gu, Seoul, Korea You may make your ownreservi.uon by faxing your name, number, Ly phone num- ber, and the date and place you wantto visit. Roundtrip transport from Seoulfor the DMZ tour is about — passageways blasted through rock under the DMZ bythe North «,A ranger describeslife in an earthen lodge at Knife « RiverIndian Villages National Historic Site in the pho-'to, above. But whereis it? As for the map, below, look , for Knife River and namethestate. Hint: The two Knife , Rivers are in different states. (See answers, H-3.) Koreans. With or without the tunnel excursion, the DMZtouris an otherworldlymix of barbed wire, rare @ Korean Travel Bureau wildlife, communist propaganda, and souvenir golf hats. ©1998,The H.M, Gousha Co, Phone: (82-2) 777-6647 “Wonderful tour!” a woman from Iowa wrote in the guest book. Eucsl “If tours come here," writes a der. Half of the conference table mistice on the After Apology and a $9 Million Fine, Royal Caribbean Dumps Oil Again ¢} THE WASHINGTON Post WASHINGTON — Less than a mogth after Royal Caribbean agreed to pay a $9 million fine, theZargest ever levied against a a fe line, for illegally dumping il $40 Nordic Empress and Sov- ereign of the Seas — it happened agata. Ejigineers aboard the Nordic Emgfress were caught tampering witBjthe sensors that monitoroil durgping and creating false re- cordi books to hide their actions, evel as the U.S. Coast Guard was continuingto scrutinize the cruise line. The reoccurence was doubly surprising after Royal Caribbean itself had publicly apologized and proclaimed a new commitment to protecting the environment. So what went wrong? “I wish I had a good answerforthat,” said Lynn Martenstein, vice president of corporate communications. “I can't tell you why.” The matter is under investigation by both the Coast Guard and the Justice Department, and no additional penalties have yet been liesinNorthKoreaandhalfinthe they allow the ‘toate to illustrate tographed in “the North,” and sometimes can photograph a howperilous and hostile the situ- North Korean guard, looking at But under rules governing U.S. forces in Korea, its tours may three North Korean soldiers dead. Officials say there have been no other major incidents related to includecivilians of any nationality except Korean, if space is available. The USO calling once you arrive in Ko- tourism at the DMZ and that the opposing militaries now have an unwritten agreement not to take rransport to DMZ foractive $14,civilian $17. To DMZ and tunnel, military $22, civilian $28. walk into and out of the tunnel. abandoned coal mines, the South tour groups to thesite at the same time. Stull, tour guidee carry pistols and the bus is escorted through part of the tour by a camouflaged Humvee all-purpose military vehicle, flying a small U.N. Visitors are warnednot topoint °F make 9 ende et vd Sie Orean Dordes Soares: Visitors also. ne waiver Te: _leasing the lly eons says there are as many as 20 — designed as attack corridors — and that one is large enough to lowed. and 30,000 fully armed troops per _‘Tip is not for everyone. allow passage of small vehicles hour. About 150,000 people, approximately half of them South Kore- iyi bern roe Even among adults, the DMZ Lawrence Younger, a Scottish ation remains between the rival them through the window. Koreas. The DMZ is a 2.5-mile-wide buffer and runs across the peninsula, roughly along the 38th par- @ Checkpoint No. 3. Visitors stand ona hill overlooking mostly brushy landscape where North Koreans have put up Hollywoodstyle signs and loudspeakers that blast propaganda across the DMZ. are U.S. soldiers elsewhere in South Korea, American andotherveterans of the war and “For anybody who's not been here before, yes, it’s education- just plain tourists. Upto half that number are be- one who was here then, no.” Prisoners were exchanged across allel. It is about an hour’s drive north of Seoul. The zone was created when the 1950-53 Korean War ended not with a full peace treaty but a frag- ile armistice. The North-South face-off continues today with an estimated 2 million soldiers, including some 37,000 Americans, at the ready on both sides of the border. Highlights of the tour include: @ A 15-minute historical slide aoe TL TICKETS @ The Bridge of No Return. it after the war. @ Wildlife. Largely untouched since the war, the DMZis a sanctuary for half the world’s remain- @ The separate tunnel trip is from the South each year. Many lieved to tour the northern side every year, though no figures are available from the secretive Sta- veteran who served in Korea in 1953, said the visit made him so sad he wouldn’t recommendit to fellow veterans. al,” said Younger. “But for some- Tears welled in his eyes as he looked over the area where he’d served as a 19-;-year--old soldier. “Bad memories,” hesaid softly. ON a alcrrea Shuttle WE BiGTHAIPORT TO YOUR DOOR “300 2 ama Eastern Travel RAM }6 S. State, Ste 102 41 11 iF,“55og | XPRESS px! wHUTTLe web:www.easteratravel.com $1249up 3-5 day Hong Kong package $650up NDOVER 7 ans, take the tour into the DMZ ing black-faced spoonbill ey di A third of the world’s Mancina cranes winter there. about a 20-minute drive away, show at Camp Bonifas, a few hun- levied. areCrete peninsula — say Phone: (82-2) 795-3028 USO serves U.S. wine duty military personnel. Though North Koreans have said the passageways are only South. Visitors can step to the otherside of the table and be pho- with maintaining a 45-year-old ar- kill anyone who Such a tragedy occurred in mission meeting room, a oneroombuilding straddling the bor- must be anything but.” back, and they'll gets in the way.” and it takes about a half-hour to, U.N. military forees — charged But the combined U.S. and CHC Gousha Us, Use by permiinaioe “They have to get their tourist The bureau does not offer tunnel tours. red yards outside the DMZ. ‘Ml The Military Armistice Com- more cynical man from California, “this so-called ‘tense’ border Pa., the tour guide on a recent day. about $40. $40; for the tunnel about $35, and for both stops about $45. linist country. “Our worst-case scenario, of all-outwar, is that one ofthelr tourists will defect while our tour group is there,” said U.S. Army Spe. Christian White of Scranton, Address: CPO Box 3533, |, Korea. ‘The bureau asks that noe than call directly, you ha your travel agent Scie it for reservations. 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