What Hiking a Korean DMZ Trail is Like

The Stars & Stripes had a reporter check out a recently opened DMZ hiking trail:

The U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees activities in the DMZ, has approved plans for three trails in the DMZ.

So far, only the one in Goseong, which sits in the section that snakes north of the 38th parallel and features a view of North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang, has begun accepting visitors.

Groups of about 20 tourists at a time, escorted by soldiers, walk along a coastal path marked by two rows of tall barbed wire fences cutting off the beach. Signs warn of land mines on the other side.

On Friday, the guide Park Jeung Hey rattled off the names of trees and flowers and historical tidbits. Her charges were delighted when a deer appeared nearby before retreating into the trees.

Park noted abandoned railroad tracks along the route. “You might imagine that you might use this road and the railway to visit Mount Kumgang in the near future,” she said. (……….)

So far, only the one in Goseong, which sits in the section that snakes north of the 38th parallel and features a view of North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang, has begun accepting visitors.

Groups of about 20 tourists at a time, escorted by soldiers, walk along a coastal path marked by two rows of tall barbed wire fences cutting off the beach. Signs warn of land mines on the other side. (………)

The trail consists of two courses — one by foot and the other by vehicle — and ends at a barricaded gate that has been used in the past by travelers to North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang for reunions of families who had been separated by the war.

A sign declared it to be the northernmost point of South Korea.

Lee Saet-Byeol of the Goseong district office said more than 4,300 people have participated in the tours since they began on April 27, coinciding with the first anniversary of the first summit between Moon and Kim.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.