Is North Korea still digging tunnels to the South?

Standing inside a basement of an apartment block in the heart of the capital, the former two-star general in the South Korean military says, "This is a kind of invasion, North Korean soldiers working underneath us."

Hahn says residents had complained of underground vibrations, but the subway does not run beneath them.

He says dowsers detected three tunnels, 13 to 16 feet (4 to 5 meters) wide at a depth of up to 39 feet (12 meters). His team drilled two bore holes to lower a camera, but before they could, they detected two underground explosions and their drill holes were blocked. Hahn is certain that North Korean soldiers were working beneath their feet, protecting the tunnel.

A history of tunnels

Four tunnels from the North have been found in all, although none since 1990. The South Korean Defense Ministry still officially looks for them as it believes there may be 20 in all, but the budget is small and tunnel hunters believe it is merely a token effort. North Korea has said the tunnels were not for invasion, but part of its mining industry.

While the Defense Ministry believes there may be up to several tunnels dug under the Demilitarized Zone, it is convinced that none would reach as far as Seoul. It believes that Pyongyang would not be able to dig more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the DMZ -- the heavily fortified border -- because of the Imjin River. Seoul's northwestern boundary is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the DMZ.

"To dig tunnels tens of kilometers, it must be angled properly," says Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok. "There is a huge amount of groundwater in the Korean Peninsula, so water and soil have to be removed consistently. South Korea and the U.S. have always taken aerial photographs, and we found no evidence of this."

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A view from a former North Korean official

But a former intelligence official from North Korea says the notion is not as far-fetched as it might sound. The military defector, who is not using his name as he still has family in the North, said North Koreans "usually pulled out soil and stones during the night so as not to be detected by the U.S. or South Korea. They dig into the ground vertically from 100 to 150 meters (328 to 492 feet) and slope upwards to South Korea so the water drains back to the North."

The man says he had knowledge of the tunnel digging when he lived in the North. Saying that operations peaked in the 1980s, he believes Pyongyang would still protect the multiple tunnels it dug over many decades.

"I was told the tunnels are not directly connected to the streets of Seoul because of the risk of being detected. The tunnels are connected to the sewers linked to the relevant organizations."

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The relevant organizations that would be targeted are the U.S. Embassy, the Blue House presidential compound and government buildings, he says.

The former official says that in case of war, infantry troops would flood into the tunnels dressed in American or South Korean uniforms. The tunnels would then be blown up behind them so there would be no retreat.

But in recent years, many suspected tunnels have been proved false. And concerns about Pyongyang have shifted to its nuclear ambitions and long-range ballistic missiles.

Tunnel hunters do not always get much respect in South Korea. But Hahn, and others who have dedicated their time and money to the search, say the government should not ignore the threat they believe exists under their very feet.

source: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/02/world/asia/north-korea-dmz-tunnels/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

[For World Peace] Koreas hold family reunions amid tensions over military drills

By Kim Kwang-tae and Joint Press Corps

MOUNT KUMGANG, North Korea, Feb. 24 (Yonhap) -- Hundreds of South Koreans held tearful reunions Monday with their North Korean relatives they had not seen since the 1950-53 Korean War as Seoul began its joint annual military exercises with Washington.

A total of 357 South Koreans met with 88 elderly North Korean relatives on the second of three days of family reunions at Mount Kumgang, a scenic resort on the North's east coast.

The South and North Koreans exchanged gifts with each other during their private reunions in their hotel rooms, though the session was delayed for about 20 minutes as North Korea had to manually operate the elevators due to a power shortage.

The North has been using emergency generators to power its hotel for days, a sign of energy shortages in a country under international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.

Jeon Kyung-sook, an 81-year-old from Seoul, said her elder brother from North Korea scolded her and her sister during the private session for bringing him clothes as a gift from the South.

Jeon shed tears as she recounted her reunion with her brother, who ended up in North Korea following the end of the Korean War.

Both Jeon and her sister burst into tears as they tightly held his withered hands and buried their faces in his chest later at their joint lunch session.

The reunions are the second set in a week. On Saturday, 80 elderly South Koreans, accompanied by 56 family members, returned home from the mountain resort after a first round of three-day reunions with their North Korean relatives.

The reunions -- which will end on Tuesday -- are a key part of a recent inter-Korean deal meant to improve bilateral relations that worsened last year due to the North's third nuclear test and its threats of war against Seoul and Washington.

The latest reunions, the first since late 2010, came as Seoul and Washington launched their annual joint military exercises, which have been denounced by the North as a rehearsal for invasion.

The North had demanded that Seoul postpone the military exercises until after the reunions, but it later backed down, a rare concession that indicates that Pyongyang may be serious about mending fences with Seoul.

At the North's resort, North Korean officials complained to their South Korean counterparts about the military exercises, though they held out the prospect of improved relations.

The rival Koreas have said the family reunions can serve as a first step toward improving cross-border relations.

"Can we suddenly meet and kiss after a row of more than three years?" a North Korean official asked to South Korean pool reporters, referring to years of tensions between the two Koreas.

He said the two Koreas need to hold each other's hands as they seek to improve their relations.

The separated family members were meeting en masse at a banquet hall after holding private reunions and joint lunch at their hotels.

The South Koreans plan to return home on Tuesday after a series of reunion meetings with their long-lost relatives from North Korea for the first time in six decades.

There is no hope that they will meet again each other during their lifetime because the Korean War ended in a cease-fire rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically in a state of war.

The division keeps ordinary citizens from the rival Koreas from meeting, making phone calls or sending letters or emails to each other, though some illegal channels exist.

In Seoul, South Korea proposed that the rival Koreas hold talks at a convenient time for the North to discuss Seoul's aid offer designed to help contain the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the communist country in about three years, a government official said Monday.

Last week, South Korea allowed two private aid groups in Seoul to ship 1.06 billion won (US$988,000) worth of tuberculosis medicine and powdered milk to North Korea.

source: http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2014/02/24/43/0301000000AEN20140224001152315F.html




When it comes to the family, It must be able to see whenever they want to see each other.
However there are some family who cannot see whenever they want to see each other due to the Korean War.
They're never known whether their family are alive or not. Also, they remained without going to hometown all their life.
Why are the family suffer from the war.
If the war is not over, it will repeat the suffering continuously.
We really work for world peace and try to live without war in the world.
Especially, Youths should shout of peace.
Now all the war is over, It should choose the path of peace.