The Scary Part

In a different time, a different world really, I found myself looking out upon North Korea from the closest point somewhat safe for an American. Guard Post Ouellette sits precariously on a hill near the demarcation line separating North Korea from the south, and the rest of the world. Being a Forward Observer assigned to an Infantry Battalion on rotation to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), I would come to understand fully the duties implied by that title in my relatively short stint on that hill. It’s entirely possible that I could write an entire book about that time, and I may do just that some day. As for now and in the interest of brevity, please allow me to provide just one “observation” that seems relevant today.

The guard tower on Ouellette was given the most sophisticated surveillance equipment available in 1984, obsolete by today’s standards, but sufficient enough to provide a clear view of North Korean soldiers manning guard posts at several locations, some not much further than 100 yards away. Each day, buses were driven to an area widened in the road and workers were offloaded to work in the rice paddies, perform minor construction work, and to fill up the otherwise empty “propaganda village” located on the North’s side of the DMZ. Each day while it was still light, the workers would all gather again and be bussed off to what I imagined for a time was their happy homes and families. They all seemed to be normal, content, and even jovial in spirit as they gathered. There was just something amiss about all these North Korean citizens however.

We can all be naïve at times and being just a small town kid still green to political dealings; it took me a few days to figure out exactly what was going on. No one explained it to me so I just had to see it with my own eyes. They were happy and content. That was their job…their duty. The citizenry of North Korea get no closer to the outside world than they do right there on the DMZ. Whatever they know of the world is what their government has told them. If Pyongyang tells its people that the United States is the reason that they are hungry then it is what they believe. If they are told to wage a war then they will fight with all their abilities, for that is what they believe is right and just.

Back on Guard Post Ouellette and back to observing the North Korean soldiers manning their posts. Vigilantly I watched them…I, and the sniper Scout that was assigned along with me. We watched them each day as the workers came and went, but they were not watching us. Their eyes were trained upon their own people like guards of a prison watching over the inmates. That’s the scary part.