Battlefield Tourism (Unique Battlefield Tourism)
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:35 am
There are a lot of renowned battlefield tourism sites where many fierce battles were once taken. However, there are only a few places in the world where people can tour around the battlefield, but the battle still hasn't ended yet. Panmunjeom is the one of the few battlefield tourism site where the tension of the battle still lingers and soldiers are standing face to face with their weapons held in arms.
Panmunjeom is located in Gyeonggi Province at the heart of the boarder between the North and South Korea. It is a village where the Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War was signed. There is also a Joint Security Area (JSA) nearby where the soldiers of the North and South Korea are facing each other right on the boarder between the two countries. This tour site is very renowned to foreign visitor and became one of the "must see" program when they visit Korea. However, there are some restrictions. Due to the diplomatic reason, the local citizen are prohibited from entering the site. Luckly for me, I was able to experience the Panmunjeom when I was servicing in the U.S. military.
The atmosphere of Panmunjeom is different from other regular battlefield tour site like Gettysburg. It is not casual and family oriented as its original purpose is to pause the war. Therefore, one can feel the tension of a war and the reality between the two countries. There are many strict regulations such as checking IDs and bannig photographs. Moreover, tourists will be escorted by actual army personal who is working at the Panmunjeom.
If you are tired of visiting many conventional battlefield parks or museum, Panmunjeom would be my definate recommendation that I would like to offer.
Panmunjeom is located in Gyeonggi Province at the heart of the boarder between the North and South Korea. It is a village where the Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War was signed. There is also a Joint Security Area (JSA) nearby where the soldiers of the North and South Korea are facing each other right on the boarder between the two countries. This tour site is very renowned to foreign visitor and became one of the "must see" program when they visit Korea. However, there are some restrictions. Due to the diplomatic reason, the local citizen are prohibited from entering the site. Luckly for me, I was able to experience the Panmunjeom when I was servicing in the U.S. military.
The atmosphere of Panmunjeom is different from other regular battlefield tour site like Gettysburg. It is not casual and family oriented as its original purpose is to pause the war. Therefore, one can feel the tension of a war and the reality between the two countries. There are many strict regulations such as checking IDs and bannig photographs. Moreover, tourists will be escorted by actual army personal who is working at the Panmunjeom.
If you are tired of visiting many conventional battlefield parks or museum, Panmunjeom would be my definate recommendation that I would like to offer.