Postcard from the DMZ

On our way home from Mongolia, we spent a couple of nights in Seoul. The highlight was a visit to the Korean Demilitarized Zone—a place where history feels unfinished.

The DMZ separates North and South Korea along one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. More than seven decades after the fighting stopped, the armistice still holds, but a formal peace treaty was never signed.

Our first stop took us across the Unification Bridge, known locally as the “Cow Bridge.” Hyundai founder Chung Ju-yung—who had fled the North as a young man—sent 1,001 cattle across the border in 1998 as humanitarian aid and a symbolic repayment for a cow he had taken from his father decades earlier.

Then came the Third Tunnel. We descended more than 240 feet underground into a narrow passage secretly dug by North Korea, designed to allow large numbers of troops to infiltrate the South. 

What struck me most was that construction of the tunnel continued while North and South were engaged in reconciliation talks above ground. It was a vivid reminder that diplomacy and deception often unfold at the same time.

The observation deck was also unforgettable. Looking across the border into North Korea, the landscape seemed serene. You can see villages, roads and mountains—but almost no signs of life. It is one of the most isolated countries on Earth.

It is difficult to imagine two societies with such a shared history ending up so radically different.

I’ve visited many places where history is remembered. The DMZ is different. Here, history is still waiting for its final chapter to be written.