Souvenirs from the Joint Security Area

There is a gift shop in Camp Bonifas, retailing DMZ-related paraphernalia and North Korea-related souvenirs. I may never visit North Korea, so I “invested” in a set of North Korean stamps and currency notes, in the hope that they will return exceptional gains when the two Koreas eventually exist as one.

I also got myself 2 DVDs – special editions of two award winning South Korean movies “Taegukgi Hwinallimyo” and “Joint Security Area”. They contain additional DVDs documenting the historical background to the movies, complete with expert commentaries, unfortunately all in Korean with no subtitles. Both made box office history when they were released.

The comments about the movies below are syndicated from various reviews and sources, they are not my original writing.

Taegukgi Hwinallimyo (Hangul: 태극기 휘날리며) is a 2004 South Korean war film directed by Kang Je-gyu, and starring Jang Dong Gun/Won Bin. It tells the story about the effect of the Korean War on two brothers. Most positive reviews cite its unflinching portrayal of war and praise it for showing the brutality of both the North and South Korean armies.

Joint Security Area (Korean: 공동경비구역 JSA) is a 2000 South Korean drama directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Lee Young Ae, Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho. This movie is not as action-oriented as Shiri, nor does it contain epic war scenes in Taegukgi. It is a tragic tale about friendship doomed by entrenched political distrust and fear that divided Korea, a fleeting moment of friendship along the 38th parallel. This movie is tragic, on the one hand, but inspiring on the other hand as political differences are broken down in an effort to develop the friendship between a pair of north soldiers and a pair of south soldiers. In a sense the movie serves as a metaphor of possibility - as individuals break down the barriers they represent their people.

A DVD of the movie was presented to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-II by South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun during the Korean summit in October 2007.