Panmunjeom in Gyeonggi-do is a village on the de facto border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War was signed. The building where the armistice was signed still stands, though it is on the northern side of the Military Demarcation Line, which runs through the middle of the DMZ. It is considered one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. Currently, discussions between North and South happen in the blue buildings which straddle the Military Demarcation Line.
[edit] Location
The village is 53 kilometres north-northwest of Seoul and 10 kilometres east of Gaeseong and was the meeting place of the Military Armistice Commission. The meetings took place in several tents set up on the south side of the Gaeseong-Seoul road on the west bank of the Sacheon stream; the village, a small cluster of less than ten huts, was opposite the negotiation site on the north side. The eighteen copies of Volume I and II of the armistice were signed by the Senior Delegates of each side in a building constructed by both sides over a 48-hour period (North Korea provided labor and some supplies, the United Nations Command provided some supplies and generators/lighting to allow the work to continue at night). After the cease-fire was signed, construction began in September of 1953 on a new site located approximately one kilometer east of the village; this is the Joint Security Area and all meetings between North Korea and the United Nations Command or South Korea have taken place here since its completion. The JSA is often, mistakenly, called Panmunjom. After the war, when all civilians were removed from the DMZ (except for two villages near the JSA on opposite sides of the MDL), the empty village of Panmunjom fell into disrepair and eventually disappeared from the landscape. There is no evidence of it today, however, the building constructed for the signing of the armistice has since been renamed by North Korea as the Peace Museum.
[edit] Brief background
Panmunjeom, the Joint Security Area in the DMZ. View from the North ...
United Nations forces met with North Korean and Chinese officials at Panmunjom from 1951 to 1953 for truce talks. The talks dragged on for several months. The main point of contention during the talks was the question surrounding the prisoners of war. North Koreans largely mistreated American and allied POWs, including subjecting them to brainwashing. The problem was very different for North Korean and Chinese POWs. As many as one third of the captured North Koreans and many more of the Chinese did not want to be returned to their communist countries. Moreover, South Korea was uncompromising in its demand for a unified state.
On June 8, 1953, an agreement to the POW problem was reached. Those prisoners who refused to return to their communist countries were allowed to live under a neutral supervising commission for three months. At the end of this time period, those who still refused repatriation would be released.
A final agreement was reached on July 27, 1953. The United Nations, China and North Korea agreed to an armistice, effectively ending the fighting; however, South Korea refused to sign it. The agreement established a 4 kilometer wide demilitarized zone along the 38th parallel, effectively dividing Korea into two separate countries. Although most troops and all heavy weapons were to be removed from the area, it has been heavily armed by both sides since the end of the fighting. Since South Korea never signed the armistice, the two countries technically remain at war.
[edit] Incidents
Being at the centre of one of the world's most tense military and political fault lines, Panmunjeom has been the location of numerous high profile incidents.
South Korean base on the DMZ taken from North Korea.
- On August 18, 1976, at 1040 hours, North Korean guards attacked a United Nations Command work party of five Korean Service Corps (KSC) personnel accompanied by an UNC security force, including the Joint Security Force (JSF) Commander, Captain (P) Arthur G. Bonifas, First Lieutenant Mark T. Barrett, and one Republic of (South) Korea Army (ROKA) officer, while pruning a large tree that was obscuring visibility between two UNC checkpoints. The northernmost checkpoint, CP#3, was only visible from the other checkpoint, OP#5, and was situated next to the Bridge of No Return. Halfway across the bridge was North Korean territory, and the Korean People's Army (KPA) had made numerous attempts to grab the UNC personnel from CP#3 and drag them across the bridge.
During the fight (over 30 KPA against 14 UNC personnel), Capt. Bonifas and Lt. Barrett were killed by the KPA who used their own pikes, clubs, and the axes dropped by the fleeing KSC civilians.
- On August 21, 1976, at 0700 hours, UNC forces conducted Operation Paul Bunyan, a massive show of force to reassert their right to operate freely and within the armistice conditions, on their side of the DMZ.
- On December 23, 1968, the crew of the captured U.S.S. Pueblo crossed through the village via the so-called ' Bridge of No Return' when they were returned to American forces after exactly 11 months in custody.
- A number of defections have taken place over the years, the most recent being the defection of North Korean People's Army Senior Captain Byun on February 3rd, 1998.
- A North Korean tunnel presumably constructed to conduct infiltration and invasion was discovered approximately 3 miles SSE of the village of Panmunjeom in 1978. Three other tunnels were discovered at various points along the DMZ during the 1970s, and 1990s.
[edit] Panmunjeom in fiction
Some landmarks of Panmunjeom, like the Joint Security Area and the Bridge of No Return, were portrayed in the popular South Korean movie JSA.
Panmunjeom itself is mentioned in Billy Joel's history themed song "We Didn't Start the Fire".
[edit] See Also
Panmunjeom tours
