Hermit Hideaways

Perhaps the most touching memory from my recent tour to JSA was Freedom Bridge. Crossing a stream adjacent to the Imjin River, it served as a crossway for refugees from the North many years ago. I snapped this shot at the entrance before making my way over. Flung across a nearby bordering hedge is a long line of ribbons commemorating many of the lives that were lost during the Korean War.

The area of Imjingak was used primarily as a place of refuge, a haven for consoling those from North Korea who were unable to return and reunite with lost family members. Bearing witness to such painful historical symbols only re-ignited a brewing resentment I have always felt toward the senselessness of war and the inevitable suffering that results from political instability. Suffice it to say, as much of an adrenaline rush Panmunjeom is, I couldn’t help but get even more frustrated at the sheer hopelessness of it all after walking around Imjingak. I can only hope that such calamities of this magnitude never happen again.