Table of Contents

OAH Magazine of History
Volume 14, No 3
Spring 2000

Copyright ©
Organization of American Historians

The Paradoxes of the Demilitarized Zone

Elizabeth D. Schafer

Have students locate printed sources and use Internet search engines to find web pages featuring the DMZ. Using these resources, have them establish a timeline tracing the history of the DMZ area before, during, and after the war. Questions they might seek to answer include: Why was the DMZ established where it was? Who established it? How did the United States and the Soviet Union initiate and influence the division of Korea through economic, military, and technological support of two post-World War II occupation zones?
Ask students to pretend they are journalists writing about the armistice and that their assignment is to explain why the DMZ was created. They should tell who negotiated the armistice, when, and where. Each student could prepare a brief biographical essay of a participant. What did Panmunjom look like during the armistice? One source on this is the New York Times Internet site featuring the 27 July 1953 front page article about the armistice, available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/learning /general/onthisday/990727onthisday.html>.

Have students create a map or diorama representing the DMZ and its rivers, roads, natural sites, and man-made structures. Place on the map the location of known North Korean tunnels into the DMZ and discuss the military strategy of tunnels in warfare.
Describe the life of United Nations troops defending the DMZ. What qualifications are required for the U.S. and Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea) guards and how do they interact? How do they train for possible military confrontations? What does the Joint Security Area motto “In Front of Them All” symbolize? Compare U.N. routines with what is known about Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) guard duties.
Divide your classroom in half and create a DMZ about ten feet wide, using desks and tables to separate sides. Read the armistice provisions establishing the Korean DMZ and tell your students that one side represents North Korea and the other side South Korea. Assign students the task of researching how people in their half of Korea live. Have them write in journals about their assumed roles, experiences, and political beliefs. At some point have several students from each side interact within the designated DMZ area. Other students should be selected as delegates of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission. They might hold meetings similar to those in the real DMZ. During this exercise, students might deal with such issues as prisoner exchanges and refugees, as well as the discovery of tunnels and armistice violations. The North Korean students can direct propaganda at South Korean students, and vice-versa. Both sides should make flags to display in the DMZ and signs to designate the zone.
Have students locate stories in newspapers and magazines about current North and South Korean relations, especially the potential use of nuclear weapons and past allegations of biological warfare. Ask them to discuss how the DMZ affects foreign policy, such as the United States not signing a land-mine treaty in 1999 due to a reliance on mines to protect military forces in the DMZ.
Assign students to use articles in newspapers and magazines, as well as the Congressional Record to prepare a report about any of these incidents that either occurred in the DMZ or resulted in diplomatic exchanges there: Operation Little Switch (20-26 April 1953); Operation Big Switch (5 August-24 September 1953); North Korean ambush of United Nations patrol (2 November 1966); North Korean raid on Camp Bonifas (29 August 1967); Blue House Raid (31 January 1968); capture and imprisonment of the U.S.S. Pueblo crew (23 January-23 December 1968); Operation Temple Bell (December 1969); Operation Runaway I (14 February 1970); discovery of tunnels (15 November 1974; 19 March 1975; and 17 October 1978); Panmunjom Axe Murder and aftermath (18 August 1976); and defections of Czechoslovakian Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission member (30 October 1981) and an interpreter from the Soviet Embassy in Pyongyang (23 November 1984).

Have students consider the irony of the DMZ actually being one of the most militarized areas of the world.
Discuss the symbolism of the DMZ, Berlin Wall, Iron Curtain, No Fly Zones in Iraq and Yugoslavia, and other military buffers created during the Cold War. Compare and contrast these zones, clarifying where, by whom, why, and the order in which they were established, as well as the current status of these divisive areas. If these areas have been dismantled, discuss when and why this occurred. Discuss whether the United States should act as an international peacekeeper or withdraw troops from South Korea. Discuss where else American troops are stationed globally and why.
Outline the battlefield efforts to acquire territory during the final months of the war. Discuss why troops dug in around the 38th parallel and how this stalemate influenced the creation of the DMZ.
How did omissions in the armistice result in antagonism between South and North Korea (such as the June 1999 sinking of a North Korean vessel in waters both sides claim as their territory but which was not clarified during the truce)? Discuss how this confrontation revealed disagreement between political factions in South Korea. Use news reports to show how the various parties presented the story quite differently.
Discuss the possibilities of Korean reunification. Explain the irony of naming the highway from Seoul to Panmunjom, “Unification Road,” while it is protected against the risk of invasion with armor obstacles, bunkers, and guards. Discuss the paradox of Unification Park, just south of the DMZ, which displays war memorials, military equipment, and even contains a train waiting for reunification to connect tracks so it can move North. South Koreans come here both to celebrate the armistice and mourn loved ones.
Discuss the tragedy of Korean War refugees separated from their families and why the DMZ represents both hope and despair for the reunion of people and the two Koreas.
Explain how the two Korean states differ geographically and what each lost from division, such as fertile land and mineral resources. How has the DMZ caused changes in South and North Korea since 1953? Discuss why the 1990s famines in North Korea occurred, possible solutions to the problem, and the role of the DMZ as a means to deliver humanitarian relief.
Discuss how a possible second Korean War would affect the peninsula and the world if 1) South Korea won or 2) North Korea won.