It was a once in a lifetime experience for me as I traveled upto the South Korean Border of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. Conflicts between various nations across the world has been existing for centuries now. From Israel-Palestine to India-Pakistan, religion has played a major role in contributing to the heights of the conflicts between the nations.But I always thought that the North and South Korean conflict had a unique nature to it in the sense that the whole difference stands on the ideologies each of these two nations have got. Political differences between nations draws attention across the world only when a strong incident occurs (mostly in the form of violence) which will make the whole world stand up and take notice. The TED talks video "Hyeonseo Lee: My escape from North Korea" drew my attention to the North and South Korean conflict and became a subject of interest to me.
The DMZ behind me
In my attempt to understand the root cause of the conflict between North and South Korea, it became clear to me that the heavy influence of the US on South Korea and the Soviet Union(now Russia) on North Korea played a major role in contributing to the differences between the nations. This obviously meant that while South Korea took to the ideology of Capitalism, North Korea got heavily influenced by the ideology of Marxism.
The North Korea post as seen from S.Korean border
Just going by a simple one line summary of these two strong opposite ideologies, Marxism fights for the protection of human rights while Capitalism fights for the protection of individual interests. I always believed that these two ideologies exist as two strong opposite forces inherently in every individual belonging to the post industrial revolution era. Whichever force dominates inside an individual, reflects the personality of the individual. But the fact that these two strong opposite ideologies can actually contribute to the differences between two whole nations as a major factor, just makes me realize how much impact these two ideologies have created across the whole world.
A army officer keeps a vigil at the South Korean Border check post
At the end of my tour, I asked the tour guide ,"Just keeping the political interests aside, what is the general feeling of a South Korean towards the people of North Korea? Is there a hatred or brotherly love feeling?", to which she replied, "There is definitely a brotherly love feeling. The sufferings that people of North Korea currently are undergoing pains us a lot".
In front of the Dorasan Station, the last station in South Korea before the DMZ
My last stop in the tour was at the Dorasan Station, which is the last station in South Korea before the DMZ begins. One thing was apparent towards the end of my tour. There is definitely a optimistic feeling for a possible unification between the nations in future. Only time will tell when this historic incident can occur.
Disclaimer: The post reflects my thoughts after the experience of my visit to the DMZ. My intention in this post is neither to highlight the tensions between the two nations or to dig deep into the sufferings of various degrees that the people of North Korea are currently undergoing.
Vishnu Sarma
