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Looking to get out of Seoul, I rented a car and ran up to Imjingak. About 7 kilometers from the DMZ, the park has become a popular tourist attraction because it doesn’t require the more substantial commitment required to visit the tunnels, closer observation points or the Joint Security Area at Panmunjon itself; in effect, Imjingak is DMZ-lite. Despite the construction of an interesting viewing platform, the site does not actually afford a view into North Korea. But it provides a dramatic panorama of the Imjin River and the remnants of the old Freedom Bridge—blown up in 1951—and the rebuilt second span which reopened in 1998.
If the North Koreans have their cultural monuments worthy of Albert Speer, so the Imjingak park has to a lot to say about South Korea’s changing political economy. Built in 1972, the park has its share of monumental architecture too: bloated, non-descript statuary, Korean War era tanks and planes, an aging railroad engine and cars. The language on the monument to the railway that once linked the two halves of the country—dedicated at the very end of the Park Chung Hee era--is laced with patriotic nostalgia: “the train that used to cross the Imjin Bridge, shuttling between Pusa and Sinuiju…traversing the entire peninsula, now stands here, its wheels stationary, its whistle a cry from the heart of the people, exclaiming aloud their aspiration to once again see the nation united.”
But for those not really interested in the monuments or old military hardware, a kiddy train winds its way through that part of the park so you can say you visited without really pondering it all. And a stone’s throw from the serious stuff is a full-blown amusement park and concession stands that seemed to have as many visitors as the Korean War memorials. The day we were there, a group of South Korean bikers (as in Harley riders) were there, decked out in their leather and tattoos, at the same time as a DMZ bike tour (as in Treks) was taking about 100 Koreans on expensive mountain bikes along the Imjin river. Concession stands sold Cokes, North Korean liquor and packages of currency with Kim Il Sung’s face beaming out.
The one part of the site that has real emotional resonance is Mangbaedan. A part of the Imjingak complex, the wooden bridge has become a place where people from North Korea visit and bow to their homeland and relatives every New Years Day and Chuseok; the chain-link fences are festooned with memorials and notes urging rapid unification; a few pictures are included below.
