100 Places You Will Never Visit (27 page)

The complex was built in the early 1980s, but its existence was not declared to the international community as it was required to be. By 1990, US intelligence had evidence that it included facilities for producing weapons-grade fuel. In 1991, North Korea signed a Joint Declaration with South Korea on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the following year agreed to IAEA inspections (as it should have done back in 1985 when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty). However, in 1993 Pyongyang objected to certain IAEA demands, spurring renewed concerns about its nuclear intentions.

The North promptly threatened to leave the treaty altogether, raising tensions with both South Korea and the US. New hope came in 1994, however, with an Agreed Framework between Washington and Pyongyang. Yongbyon was to be dismantled in return for an easing of sanctions and the provision of alternative energy supplies.

However, the situation took a turn for the worse in 2002, with North Korea acknowledging its nuclear weapons program for the first time and US President George W. Bush labeling the country as part of an “axis of evil.” Pyongyang announced in February 2003 that Yongbyon had been reactivated and that North Korea was indeed withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

However, by late 2005, six-party talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the USA seemed to have established a new settlement, with North Korea again agreeing to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for much-needed financial aid and certain political concessions. However, when talks became deadlocked, North Korea conducted its first nuclear weapons test. The following year, Pyongyang eased its position again, allowing IAEA inspectors to visit Yongbyon and promising to shut down the reactor in return for being removed from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. The dismantling process began in June 2008 with the spectacular destruction of the main cooling tower at Yongbyon.

KEEPING COOL The cooling tower at Yongbyon was blown up by the North Korean authorities in 2008 in an apparent gesture of rapprochement with the West. However, hopes of more cordial relations were soon dashed as Pyongyang ordered a new nuclear test.

Yet doubts remained as to how honest North Korea was being about its nuclear facilities, and relations soon took another downward turn. North Korea banned further IAEA inspections, withdrew from talks in 2009 and conducted another nuclear test. In 2010, Pyongyang was blamed for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel and for shelling a South Korean-held island, further raising the stakes.

In November 2010, satellite imagery confirmed that Kim Jong-il’s regime was in the process of building a new reactor at Yongbyon, on the site of the former cooling tower. More satellite photos in 2011 backed up assertions from Pyongyang that building was “progressing apace.” Experts concluded that while it is designed for civilian purposes, it could be easily adapted for the production of weapons-grade uranium. During 2010, Pyongyang had used a military parade to showcase a new class of intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of bearing a nuclear payload. Whether the North has yet developed a warhead to fit the missile is not known.

For several decades, the ruling regime in North Korea has been characterized by paranoia about its standing in the world. In that light, its nuclear program has proved a useful tool in drawing concessions on various issues. Nonetheless, by keeping independent observers away from Yongbyon for prolonged periods, Pyongyang has entered into a risky game of brinkmanship, in which no one can be sure of the outcome. But, ever more isolated on the international stage and with its economy crippled by a lack of international trade, the country may have few other cards left to play.

1 SITE OF CONCERN Satellite imagery of the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, taken in 2005. The North Korean regime has consistently refused to play ball with the international community over access to the facility, using it instead as a pawn in its international relations.

2 TEST REACTOR A detailed view reveals the tower of the 5MW experimental reactor at Yongbyon, source of much of the radioactive material used in North Korea’s nuclear tests. The cooling tower dismantled in 2008 can be seen at upper right—a new reactor is now under construction in its place.

93 Mount Baekdu hideout

LOCATION Ryanggang Province, North Korea

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Hyesan

SECRECY OVERVIEW Existence unacknowledged: secret mountain lair of the former North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il.

Kim Jong-il, reputedly a great fan of the James Bond movies, all but completed his transformation into the perfect Bond villain by ordering construction of a secret military command center inside his country’s most sacred mountain, Mount Baekdu. Uncovered by foreign defense analysts in 2010, the complex is believed to have been many years in the building.

Mount Baekdu (which translates as “the white-headed mountain”) rises to over 2,700 meters (8,850 ft) on North Korea’s border with China. It is a spectacular stratovolcano with a habit of erupting about once a century on average (the next eruption is currently overdue). According to Korea’s foundation story, its first kingdom emerged here in the third millennium BC, and as such, the mountain is a highly venerated site.

North Korea’s founding father, Kim Il-sung, is said to have led Korea’s resistance against Japanese occupation from the dense forests around the mountain until 1945. It then became an important base for communist forces during the Korean War. North Korea’s official history claims that Kim Jong-il was born on the mountain beneath a double rainbow, though most evidence points to his birthplace as a small village near Khabarovsk in Russia.

The secret base, revealed by the Hong Kong bureau of the Kanwa Information Center in 2010, was said to have been built into the mountainside to serve as a command post should North Korea ever suffer an invasion from one or both of South Korea and the USA, or in the event that the Kim dynasty was threatened by an internal coup. Built close to one of the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il’s palaces, the complex has storage space for helicopters and fighter jets, with an airfield located conveniently close by. Evidence for the lair’s existence was garnered from a combination of satellite photos and the testimony of defectors.

If the world was hoping for a change in North Korea’s political approach after Kim Jong-il’s death in late 2011, a proclamation attributed to the National Defence Commission suggested otherwise: “We declare solemnly and confidently that foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet forces in South Korea, that they should not expect any change from us.” As long as the isolated state retains this ferocious attitude, the Mount Baekdu base will surely remain on standby.

1 FABLED MOUNTAIN An official North Korean photograph shows Kim Jong-il, the nation’s leader from 1994 until his death in 2011, casually posing at the top of Mount Baekdu. Official claims that he was born at this revered site are likely nothing more than myth.

94 Korean Demilitarized Zone

LOCATION A strip of land along the 38th Parallel

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Kaesong, North Korea/Uijeongbu, South Korea

SECRECY OVERVIEW Access restricted: the world’s most heavily militarized border.

Reportedly described by then US President Bill Clinton as “the scariest place on earth” during a visit in 1993, the Korean Demilitarized Zone (commonly abbreviated as the DMZ) is the buffer zone that divides North and South Korea. Widely accepted as the most heavily armed border in the world, the DMZ is a virtual no-go area along most of its 248-kilometer (154-mile) length.

The DMZ runs along the 38th parallel, the line of latitude that was used to demarcate the newly established nations of North and South Korea in 1948. Stretching from the mouth of the River Han on the Peninsula’s west coast all the way over to the east coast, it is an average of 4 km (2.5 miles) wide, with as many as a million troops stationed on the North’s side and well over half a million in the South (including a US contingent of several tens of thousands). The territory covered by the DMZ is defaced with razor wire, heavy weaponry, countless watch towers and concealed tank-traps and landmines.

When North Korea attacked across the 38th parallel in 1950, it sparked a bitter three-year war that claimed the lives of 2 million people. Fighting came to an end in July 1953 with the signing of a ceasefire armistice, though no permanent peace was ever concluded. The DMZ was set up under the terms of the internationally brokered armistice, with a Military Demarcation Line running along its center. Either side may patrol within the DMZ up to the Demarcation Line, but must not set foot over it.

The DMZ remains a swathe of land in which danger is ever present. Indeed, were the North to encroach on the territory of the South, the US would be drawn to South Korea’s defense under the terms of a 1954 agreement. And were that to happen, we would very likely find ourselves in the middle of a Third World War.

Six decades after the Korean War ostensibly ended, relations between the North and South remain strained, sometimes to breaking point. Border skirmishes have been a regular feature throughout the DMZ’s history, often with little provocation. Furthermore, from the 1970s South Korea discovered a series of tunnels crossing the DMZ from the North, arousing suspicions that the North still harbored plans for invasion.

For its part, the North has accused the South of building a huge wall the length of the DMZ, constructed from concrete and adorned with assorted military posts. Pyongyang has claimed the wall offers the South a bridgehead into the North’s territory. The South and the US both deny the existence of any such construction, though they do admit that sections of anti-tank barriers have been erected.

UNITED FRONT This Reunification Memorial sits by a North Korean entrance to the DMZ. The slogan translates as: “Let us pass to the next generation a united country.” It is a sentiment that seems destined to go unfulfilled, with relations between the two neighbors rarely more than strained at best.

Panmunjom, toward the western end of the DMZ, is a rare enclave of normality (though that is a relative term). It is home to the Joint Security Area, sometimes known as the Truce Village. Neither the North nor South can claim dominion over it, but both contribute to its policing. Host to countless rounds of negotiations between the two sides, it was at Panmunjom that over a thousand sessions of talks were held ahead of the 1953 armistice. Today, Swedish and Swiss representatives from the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission keep a permanent presence here to ensure that the DMZ continues to be observed.

Yet even Panmunjom has not been free from incident. For example, in 1976 several South Korean and US personnel were killed by ax blows when an attempt to prune a bush provoked a clash with troops from the North. While this is the only place in the DMZ where visitors are allowed, it should be noted that only approved tour groups are accepted, and visitors must sign a waiver that begins: “The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeon will entail entry into a hostile area and the possibility of injury or death.”

Not far from Panmunjom is Daeseong-dong (which translates as Freedom Village), the only South Korean-run settlement in the DMZ. The town of Gijeong-dong, 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from Daeseong-dong on the North’s side, is the only other village in the DMZ. Supposedly a model town with a school, hospital and collective farm as well as high-quality housing, it was designed to prove that the North’s way was the best way (for a while it even laid claim to the world’s tallest flagpole, upon which is suspended a huge North Korean flag). However, it is widely suspected that there is no permanent population there save for a few military personnel.

Curiously and ironically, while the DMZ remains a place of great danger for humans, the absence of mankind’s influence has turned it into an unlikely nature reserve—today it plays home to numerous rare species, including cranes and even big cats.

1 NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH Two North Korean troops survey the South Korean portion of the Joint Security Area (popularly known as Truce Village). Despite the presence of international observers to ensure that the peace is kept, there have been sporadic skirmishes.

2 THE GOOD LIFE Gijeong-dong is North Korea’s “Propaganda Village,” visible from the South’s sector of the DMZ. According to Pyongyang, 200 families enjoy an enviable quality of life on a collective farm, though others claim that the settlement is nothing but an elaborate ruse.

3 COLD WAR South Korean infantry soldiers in winter uniform patrol a barbed-wire-topped fence that runs parallel to the Military Demarcation Line, dividing North and South Korea along the 38th parallel.

95 Camp 22

LOCATION Northeastern North Korea

NEAREST POPULATION HUB Hoeryong

SECRECY OVERVIEW Existence unacknowledged: a prison camp holding 50,000 people, mostly for criticizing the government.

A detention center for political prisoners and their families, Camp 22 lies in a mountainous setting close to North Korea’s borders with Russia and China. Though the secretive North Korean government denies its existence and it does not appear on any maps, several former inmates and members of staff have alleged extreme brutality and human rights violations.

Camp 22 is perhaps more reminiscent of a concentration camp than a typical prison facility. Believed to have been established in 1959, most of its 50,000 inmates have either been interned for criticizing the ruling regime or for simply being related to those who have. It is believed that up to three generations of certain families are held here, in accordance with a proclamation by Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founding tyrant: “Enemies of class, whoever they are, their seed must be eliminated through three generations.”

Evidence from satellite photos suggests that the camp covers approximately 48 by 40 kilometers (30 x 25 miles) near the village of Haengyong-ni, with prisoners dispersed widely across it, and that it is surrounded by fences under heavy guard. Reports from other North Korean camps indicate that electric fencing is probably employed. Much of our knowledge of what occurs within its confines comes from testimony delivered by defectors from North Korea, including the camp’s one-time chief of management.