On June 25, I visited the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, between North and South Korea. The day of my visit marked exactly 73 years since the Korean War began in 1950, and the spot I stood at wasn't far from the site where, a couple weeks later, a US soldier would shock the world by darting across the border and defecting into North Korea.
Spanning the 160-mile width of the Korean peninsula, the DMZ is one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. It was established in 1953 as part of the Korean Armistice Agreement to end the Korean War.
My trip to South Korea was a graduation trip with my five close friends from college. From the start, we knew we wanted to visit Lotte World — a popular theme park — and the BTS bus stop. At one point during our research for the 18-day trip, one of my friends suggested booking a day tour to the DMZ.
In an effort to avoid spending two weeks only focused on shopping and eating, we booked the DMZ Peace Tour on Klook for about $53 USD.