Visit korea & Seoul city tour

Why Cosmojin

Welcome to Cosmojin. Thanks for your interest and support for our service.

Cosmojin travel has run Seoul daily city tour for more than 15 years. We developed the most attractive tour packages for visitors and will continue to create new programs to meet international traveler’s need.

We help you to plan your own Seoul city tour with well-prepared theme and organized time table. You will find the most convenient way to enjoy Seoul with Cosmojin.

We hire the best tour guides with good service experience especially for foreigners and they all get great feedbacks from the customers. They are all proud of what they do for visitors to make your every corner of visits memorable and meaningful.

Transportation is another important things define travel quality. We provides brand new and clean cars with reasonable price for various tour packages.

There is Korean saying "Even a chance meeting is due to the Karma in a previous life." We will serve you as our family and friend as we want you to remember the time with us as a great memory. There are so much fun in Seoul and we cannot wait to introduce all of them. It does not matter morning, afternoon or late night. You will be surprised what you can enjoy in every second. We look forward to meeting you soon. You will enjoy guided tour with interesting secret and meaningful information that you cannot find elsewhere. Aren’t you excited about the best guide, the best customer, the best place and the best tour course?

Tour Highlights

DMZ is a buffer zone between two Koreas, bisecting the Korean Peninsula
DMZ has been the most popular tourist spot of Korea for foreigners since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The purpose of the zone is to prevent the recurrence of war between North & South Koreas.
The zone ranges 2 km north and south respectively from the ceasefire line of 1953. The land stretches across the Korean Peninsula 155 miles from the mouth of Han River to the East Coast.
It’s one of the most well-preserved wild-life refuges where peace and tension coexist. The President of Korea, Park Geun-hye, is pushing to build a “peace park” in the DMZ as a new symbol of political reconciliation and ecological conservation.

Historical Background
The surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of Pacific War saw the division of Korea by the 38th parallel line when the US and the Soviet Union moved into Korean Peninsula. The division line was intended to be a temporary political border, but the failure to hold free election throughout the peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides.
The North Korean tanks crossed the 38th line at the dawn of June 25, 1950. The war lasted for three years and one month to cost more than two million people's lives. The ceasefire agreement was signed at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953. The armistice, not a peace treaty, is still in effect today.

Major Tour Spots
In essence, any DMZ tour is to experience the reality of division and to find the hope of future. The highlight of the tour is to explore a tunnel dug by North Korea. The tunnel was discovered by South Army as the third one among four tunnels, hence the name “The Third Tunnel”. It is a surreal experience to find a 1,635 meter tunnel at the depth of 73 meters underground. The infiltration tunnel was made by dangerous manual excavation work with dynamites, shovels and pick axes. The tunnel is located only four kilometers away from JSA, where the representatives of North Korea repeat their version of peace and reunification.
The other tourism spots include an observatory and a train station. The observatory sits on the top of a hill, from which you can observe the north area including the “Gaesung Industrial Complex”, the “Propaganda Village”, a huge statue of North Leader Kim Il-sung, etc. The train station is the northern most one of South Korea and it is physically connected to the North railway system, which again is linked to the Trans Eurasian Railway Network. Regardless of the frustrating diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula, here you can find a hope to go to Europe by TRS (Trans-Siberian Railway).

What You Can Expect

What is the best way to go to DMZ? By joining the DMZ tour service of Cosmojin!

The western part of DMZ lies only 52 kilometers away from Seoul to the north direction. However, there are no public transportation directly connecting DMZ and Seoul. Even after you manage to arrive at DMZ, you can see that the admission ticket is sold out after a long standing at the waiting line of the ticket booth. Some tourists find out that they have forgotten to bring their passport only after they are requested to show them to an MP of the military check point.

Yes, the most reasonable way to DMZ is to use the specialized service of Cosmojin tour. You can put every worry down by one simple booking with Cosmojin, which has operated DMZ tour service for over fifteen years. You will be provided with:
• The best storytelling tour guide for DMZ
• The most convenient transportation to and from the DMZ (including a morning pick-up service at your hotel in Seoul)
• The total service including the admission fee to tour facilities of DMZ

Highlights
• The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
• Dora Observatory
• Dorasan Station
• Imjingak Park
• Unification Bridge
• The best quality Jinseng Center or Amethyst Factory Outlet

Information

The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the korea Peninusula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ is the only place in th world where confronting ideologies still face each other. The only permanent residents of the DMZ are the various plants and animals that are sheltered from human contact. This is the only place where peach and tension coexist and people who long for peace continue to visit without fail.

Course

• 

  Imjingak Park

  Imjingak, located 7 km from the Military Demarcation Line, is now at the forefront of tourism related to the Korean War. It was built in 1972 with the hope that someday unification would be possible. Three-storied Imjingak is surrounded by several monuments, Unification Park and North Korea Center.

  400 kinds of photos and documents showing the stark reality of North Korea are displayed in the North Korea Center of Unification Board. Outside Imjingak, there are 12 kinds of tanks and crafts on display that were used during the war.

  Mangbaedan Alter, which stands opposite of Imjingak, is famous for the place where people from North Korea visit and perform ancestral rites by bowing toward their hometown every New Year's Day and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). The Bridge of the Freedom, South Koreans crossed when they came back to their mother country from North Korea, stands behind Mangbaedan Alter.

  In front of Imjingak is the Gyeongui Train Line which was destroyed during the Korean War in 1950. It has been under construction since 2000. Every year many events for unification are held at Imjingak. Imjingak is now one of the famous tourist spots for foreigners in Gyeonggi-do because it is possible to visit without going through any security check points

• 

  The Unification Bridge

  The bridge is more like a symbolic bridge built back in 1998, wishing unification between two Koreas.

  It was built by Hyundai Business Group of South Korea. Underneath the bridge you can see a river which is called Imjingang, coming down from North Korea. The bridge also has a nickname which is the “Cow Bridge”. The founder of Hyundai whose name was Jung Juyoung crossed this bridge and went to North Korea back in 1998 with precisely 1,001 cows. Since then, we have been calling it the cow bridge. Of course all the cows he took with him were part of humanitarian donations for North Korean people.

• 

  ID Check

  If you look outside, you can see some soldiers wearing a green color camouflage uniform. They are South Korean soldiers or ROK soldiers currently serving their mandatory military service for 21 months. All men in South Korea have to serve the military mandatorily for 21 months, but it’s not required for women. I also served for 26 months a long time ago right after college, and it was longer than right now. Military service is getting shorter and shorter. However, the situation is a lot more terrible in North Korea. First of all, it’s mandatory for both genders, men and women. Men have to serve for 10 years while women serve for 7 years, but this is just for normal kinds of soldiers. For a special forces like Marine Corps and Airborne, they have to serve for 13 years. 

• 

  DMZ theater and exhibition hall

  It’s a unique museum within the civilian control line. The museum, on which the nation and provinces had spent 44.5 billion Korean won, officially opened on 08, 14, 2009. DMZ Showroom displays leaflets used during the 6.25 Korean Civil War, military letters, bayonets, empty cartridges, pottery found in DMZ, taxidermied birds and etc. DMZ Video Room features three-dimensional moving pictures. By watching them, you can easily understand how Korea got divided. 
  

   

• 

  The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel

  The highlight of the DMZ tour is to explore a tunnel dug by North Korea.

  Since 1974, South Army has discovered four tunnels crossing the MDL. The tunnels are believed to have been planned as a military invasion or infiltration route. Each tunnel is large enough to enable the passage of thirty thousand soldiers in one hour.

  The 3^rd tunnel discovered in 1978 penetrates into South Korea by 435 meters beyond the ceasefire line. You are going to hear how the tunnel was discovered with more detailed information. After listening to the story, you will enter into the actual tunnel to find the ambition of North Korea to make another sudden invasion. In addition, you are going to watch a short documentary film at the DMZ theater, and look around relics and reproductions of Korean War at its small exhibition hall. 

• 

  Dora Observatory

  Dora Observatory, or OP Dora is the closest observation post to North Korea.

  From the observation platform, North Korean scenery is visible, and so are the outskirts of Gaeseong City, the 3rd largest city of North Korea. Especially, you can view the Gaeseong Industrial Complex operated by both Koreas. If you use the binocular, a statute of Kim Il-sung can be found near the Gaeseong City.

  You can also observe a fake North Korean border village. Within DMZ of North side, there’s a small village called “Propaganda Village.” On a clear day, you can view through binocular that it is actually a deserted town. Like a multi-million dollar Hollywood filming set, some lights flicker on and off at set times to create the illusion of people living there. 

• 

  Dorasan Station

  A sign in the station reads, “Not the last station from the South, But the first station toward the North.”

  For now, it is the northernmost station of South Korea which is only 700m, or a half mile away from the southern boundary of DMZ. The milestones of Dorasan Station (205km to Pyeongyang, 56km to Seoul) imply the reality of the division between two Koreas and the hope of a future. Although the tracks are connected, the north regime doesn't allow trains to pass through, making $40 million station sit unused.

  However, it serves as a beacon of hope for the reunification of two Koreas. Currently, it’s the last stop, but someday it will take you to Europe through the Trans-Siberian Railway.

• 

  Amethyst or Ginseng Center

  The colour of Amethyst is as unique as it is seductive, though in fact this gemstone of all gemstones is said to protect its wearer against seduction. Korean Amethyst is extravagance in violet since it has been formed from granite stone base since 5000 years. Moses described it as a symbol of the Spirit of God in the official robes of the High Priest of the Jews, and the Russian Empress Catherine the Great sent thousands of miners into the Urals to look for it. It was said to protect crops against tempests and locusts, bring good fortune in war and in the hunt, drive out evil spirits and inspire the intellect. 

  Ginseng is renowned for its effectiveness as a great healer for living ever so young.
  Especially if you eat ginseng when you lose your energy, it really helps to regain energy.
  Korea is acknowledged by the world because of the quality of ginseng as if it is the birthplace of ginseng.
  You can experience various kinds of ginseng products like gingersnap, extract, ginseng preserved in honey, and other great quality of products made in Korea.

• 

  President Hotel
  The President Hotel has two advantages that will make your stay in Seoul more enjoyable - comfort and convenience.
  The hotel is located in the heart of the downtown' City Hall area' Seoul's vibrant centre for business. Convenient transportation is available through the hotel's shuttle service and through the city's extensive public transportation system.
  These provide quick access to downtown offices and shops. Inchon International airport is 1 hour 50 minutes away by car and a shorter time by subway).
  Duksu Palace and the National Museum are accessible in a 10~20 minute walk- Address : 188-3' 1 Ga' Eulji-ro' Jung-gu' Seoul' Korea
  - Homepage : www.hotelpresident.co.kr
  - Tel : +82-2-753-3131
  - Fax: +82-2-752-7417
  

Reviews

Why Cosmojin

Welcome to Cosmojin. Thanks for your interest and support for our service.

Cosmojin travel has run Seoul daily city tour for more than 15 years. We developed the most attractive tour packages for visitors and will continue to create new programs to meet international traveler’s need.

We help you to plan your own Seoul city tour with well-prepared theme and organized time table. You will find the most convenient way to enjoy Seoul with Cosmojin.

We hire the best tour guides with good service experience especially for foreigners and they all get great feedbacks from the customers. They are all proud of what they do for visitors to make your every corner of visits memorable and meaningful.

Transportation is another important things define travel quality. We provides brand new and clean cars with reasonable price for various tour packages.

There is Korean saying "Even a chance meeting is due to the Karma in a previous life." We will serve you as our family and friend as we want you to remember the time with us as a great memory. There are so much fun in Seoul and we cannot wait to introduce all of them. It does not matter morning, afternoon or late night. You will be surprised what you can enjoy in every second. We look forward to meeting you soon. You will enjoy guided tour with interesting secret and meaningful information that you cannot find elsewhere. Aren’t you excited about the best guide, the best customer, the best place and the best tour course?

Tour Highlights

DMZ is a buffer zone between two Koreas, bisecting the Korean Peninsula
DMZ has been the most popular tourist spot of Korea for foreigners since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The purpose of the zone is to prevent the recurrence of war between North & South Koreas.
The zone ranges 2 km north and south respectively from the ceasefire line of 1953. The land stretches across the Korean Peninsula 155 miles from the mouth of Han River to the East Coast.
It’s one of the most well-preserved wild-life refuges where peace and tension coexist. The President of Korea, Park Geun-hye, is pushing to build a “peace park” in the DMZ as a new symbol of political reconciliation and ecological conservation.

Historical Background
The surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of Pacific War saw the division of Korea by the 38th parallel line when the US and the Soviet Union moved into Korean Peninsula. The division line was intended to be a temporary political border, but the failure to hold free election throughout the peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides.
The North Korean tanks crossed the 38th line at the dawn of June 25, 1950. The war lasted for three years and one month to cost more than two million people's lives. The ceasefire agreement was signed at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953. The armistice, not a peace treaty, is still in effect today.

Major Tour Spots
In essence, any DMZ tour is to experience the reality of division and to find the hope of future. The highlight of the tour is to explore a tunnel dug by North Korea. The tunnel was discovered by South Army as the third one among four tunnels, hence the name “The Third Tunnel”. It is a surreal experience to find a 1,635 meter tunnel at the depth of 73 meters underground. The infiltration tunnel was made by dangerous manual excavation work with dynamites, shovels and pick axes. The tunnel is located only four kilometers away from JSA, where the representatives of North Korea repeat their version of peace and reunification.
The other tourism spots include an observatory and a train station. The observatory sits on the top of a hill, from which you can observe the north area including the “Gaesung Industrial Complex”, the “Propaganda Village”, a huge statue of North Leader Kim Il-sung, etc. The train station is the northern most one of South Korea and it is physically connected to the North railway system, which again is linked to the Trans Eurasian Railway Network. Regardless of the frustrating diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula, here you can find a hope to go to Europe by TRS (Trans-Siberian Railway).

What You Can Expect

What is the best way to go to DMZ? By joining the DMZ tour service of Cosmojin!

The western part of DMZ lies only 52 kilometers away from Seoul to the north direction. However, there are no public transportation directly connecting DMZ and Seoul. Even after you manage to arrive at DMZ, you can see that the admission ticket is sold out after a long standing at the waiting line of the ticket booth. Some tourists find out that they have forgotten to bring their passport only after they are requested to show them to an MP of the military check point.

Yes, the most reasonable way to DMZ is to use the specialized service of Cosmojin tour. You can put every worry down by one simple booking with Cosmojin, which has operated DMZ tour service for over fifteen years. You will be provided with:
• The best storytelling tour guide for DMZ
• The most convenient transportation to and from the DMZ (including a morning pick-up service at your hotel in Seoul)
• The total service including the admission fee to tour facilities of DMZ

Highlights
• The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
• Dora Observatory
• Dorasan Station
• Imjingak Park
• Unification Bridge
• The best quality Jinseng Center or Amethyst Factory Outlet

Information

The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the korea Peninusula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ is the only place in th world where confronting ideologies still face each other. The only permanent residents of the DMZ are the various plants and animals that are sheltered from human contact. This is the only place where peach and tension coexist and people who long for peace continue to visit without fail.

Tour Included

Guide, Transportation, Admission Fee

Pick-up & Sending Service

1. Tour ends at Myeongdong. (Drop-off service back to your hotel is an additional charge of KRW 20,000 per person)

Payment / Cancelation

1. Cancel by 18:00 one day before the scheduled tour: 100% REFUND
2. Cancel after 18:00 one day before the tour date: cancellation fee of 100% of the tour cost.
3. Cancel at or after the tour begins or no-show: NO REFUND

Note

1. Passport is required!
2. DMZ Tour is closed on Mondays and National Holidays.
3. Lunch is not included in a half day tour.
4. In case some sites of the tours are closed, a visit to alternative places will apply.
5. When it is closed in case of some special situation.DMZ will be replaced by plan B non-refundable(Heavy rain or snow, military training)
* Plan B: Tomorrow's Whistle-Bunker Beat 131-Odusan Unification Tower-The War memorial of Korea
6. For your safety, stay with the group and follow the directions of the guide during a group tour
7. Cosmojin cannot take responsibility for any injuries or losses incurred while on tour.

LIABLITY INSURANCE (CLAIMS-MAKD BASIS). 
Cosmojin is registered in liability insurance corresponding KRW 300,000,000 for travel business license.

- The customers are not registered for accident insurance covering the medical expenses in case of accidents happening on the day of the event, so please check beforehand with the tour guide if customers are registered with travel insurance from homeland.

- Please refer to the special terms and conditions on the website for insurance coverage.

Reviews

Why Cosmojin

Welcome to Cosmojin. Thanks for your interest and support for our service.

Cosmojin travel has run Seoul daily city tour for more than 15 years. We developed the most attractive tour packages for visitors and will continue to create new programs to meet international traveler’s need.

We help you to plan your own Seoul city tour with well-prepared theme and organized time table. You will find the most convenient way to enjoy Seoul with Cosmojin.

We hire the best tour guides with good service experience especially for foreigners and they all get great feedbacks from the customers. They are all proud of what they do for visitors to make your every corner of visits memorable and meaningful.

Transportation is another important things define travel quality. We provides brand new and clean cars with reasonable price for various tour packages.

There is Korean saying "Even a chance meeting is due to the Karma in a previous life." We will serve you as our family and friend as we want you to remember the time with us as a great memory. There are so much fun in Seoul and we cannot wait to introduce all of them. It does not matter morning, afternoon or late night. You will be surprised what you can enjoy in every second. We look forward to meeting you soon. You will enjoy guided tour with interesting secret and meaningful information that you cannot find elsewhere. Aren’t you excited about the best guide, the best customer, the best place and the best tour course?

Tour Highlights

DMZ is a buffer zone between two Koreas, bisecting the Korean Peninsula
DMZ has been the most popular tourist spot of Korea for foreigners since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The purpose of the zone is to prevent the recurrence of war between North & South Koreas.
The zone ranges 2 km north and south respectively from the ceasefire line of 1953. The land stretches across the Korean Peninsula 155 miles from the mouth of Han River to the East Coast.
It’s one of the most well-preserved wild-life refuges where peace and tension coexist. The President of Korea, Park Geun-hye, is pushing to build a “peace park” in the DMZ as a new symbol of political reconciliation and ecological conservation.

Historical Background
The surrender of Japan in 1945 at the end of Pacific War saw the division of Korea by the 38th parallel line when the US and the Soviet Union moved into Korean Peninsula. The division line was intended to be a temporary political border, but the failure to hold free election throughout the peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides.
The North Korean tanks crossed the 38th line at the dawn of June 25, 1950. The war lasted for three years and one month to cost more than two million people's lives. The ceasefire agreement was signed at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953. The armistice, not a peace treaty, is still in effect today.

Major Tour Spots
In essence, any DMZ tour is to experience the reality of division and to find the hope of future. The highlight of the tour is to explore a tunnel dug by North Korea. The tunnel was discovered by South Army as the third one among four tunnels, hence the name “The Third Tunnel”. It is a surreal experience to find a 1,635 meter tunnel at the depth of 73 meters underground. The infiltration tunnel was made by dangerous manual excavation work with dynamites, shovels and pick axes. The tunnel is located only four kilometers away from JSA, where the representatives of North Korea repeat their version of peace and reunification.
The other tourism spots include an observatory and a train station. The observatory sits on the top of a hill, from which you can observe the north area including the “Gaesung Industrial Complex”, the “Propaganda Village”, a huge statue of North Leader Kim Il-sung, etc. The train station is the northern most one of South Korea and it is physically connected to the North railway system, which again is linked to the Trans Eurasian Railway Network. Regardless of the frustrating diplomacy surrounding the Korean Peninsula, here you can find a hope to go to Europe by TRS (Trans-Siberian Railway).

What You Can Expect

What is the best way to go to DMZ? By joining the DMZ tour service of Cosmojin!

The western part of DMZ lies only 52 kilometers away from Seoul to the north direction. However, there are no public transportation directly connecting DMZ and Seoul. Even after you manage to arrive at DMZ, you can see that the admission ticket is sold out after a long standing at the waiting line of the ticket booth. Some tourists find out that they have forgotten to bring their passport only after they are requested to show them to an MP of the military check point.

Yes, the most reasonable way to DMZ is to use the specialized service of Cosmojin tour. You can put every worry down by one simple booking with Cosmojin, which has operated DMZ tour service for over fifteen years. You will be provided with:
• The best storytelling tour guide for DMZ
• The most convenient transportation to and from the DMZ (including a morning pick-up service at your hotel in Seoul)
• The total service including the admission fee to tour facilities of DMZ

Highlights
• The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel
• Dora Observatory
• Dorasan Station
• Imjingak Park
• Unification Bridge
• The best quality Jinseng Center or Amethyst Factory Outlet

Information

The Korean Demilitarized Zone is a strip of land running across the korea Peninusula that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. The DMZ is the only place in th world where confronting ideologies still face each other. The only permanent residents of the DMZ are the various plants and animals that are sheltered from human contact. This is the only place where peach and tension coexist and people who long for peace continue to visit without fail.

Tour Included

Guide, Transportation, Admission Fee

Pick-up & Sending Service

1. Tour ends at Myeongdong. (Drop-off service back to your hotel is an additional charge of KRW 20,000 per person)

Payment / Cancelation

1. Cancel by 18:00 one day before the scheduled tour: 100% REFUND
2. Cancel after 18:00 one day before the tour date: cancellation fee of 100% of the tour cost.
3. Cancel at or after the tour begins or no-show: NO REFUND

Note

1. Passport is required!
2. DMZ Tour is closed on Mondays and National Holidays.
3. Lunch is not included in a half day tour.
4. In case some sites of the tours are closed, a visit to alternative places will apply.
5. When it is closed in case of some special situation.DMZ will be replaced by plan B non-refundable(Heavy rain or snow, military training)
* Plan B: Tomorrow's Whistle-Bunker Beat 131-Odusan Unification Tower-The War memorial of Korea
6. For your safety, stay with the group and follow the directions of the guide during a group tour
7. Cosmojin cannot take responsibility for any injuries or losses incurred while on tour.

LIABLITY INSURANCE (CLAIMS-MAKD BASIS). 
Cosmojin is registered in liability insurance corresponding KRW 300,000,000 for travel business license.

- The customers are not registered for accident insurance covering the medical expenses in case of accidents happening on the day of the event, so please check beforehand with the tour guide if customers are registered with travel insurance from homeland.

- Please refer to the special terms and conditions on the website for insurance coverage.

Course

• 

  Imjingak Park

  Imjingak, located 7 km from the Military Demarcation Line, is now at the forefront of tourism related to the Korean War. It was built in 1972 with the hope that someday unification would be possible. Three-storied Imjingak is surrounded by several monuments, Unification Park and North Korea Center.

  400 kinds of photos and documents showing the stark reality of North Korea are displayed in the North Korea Center of Unification Board. Outside Imjingak, there are 12 kinds of tanks and crafts on display that were used during the war.

  Mangbaedan Alter, which stands opposite of Imjingak, is famous for the place where people from North Korea visit and perform ancestral rites by bowing toward their hometown every New Year's Day and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). The Bridge of the Freedom, South Koreans crossed when they came back to their mother country from North Korea, stands behind Mangbaedan Alter.

  In front of Imjingak is the Gyeongui Train Line which was destroyed during the Korean War in 1950. It has been under construction since 2000. Every year many events for unification are held at Imjingak. Imjingak is now one of the famous tourist spots for foreigners in Gyeonggi-do because it is possible to visit without going through any security check points

• 

  The Unification Bridge

  The bridge is more like a symbolic bridge built back in 1998, wishing unification between two Koreas.

  It was built by Hyundai Business Group of South Korea. Underneath the bridge you can see a river which is called Imjingang, coming down from North Korea. The bridge also has a nickname which is the “Cow Bridge”. The founder of Hyundai whose name was Jung Juyoung crossed this bridge and went to North Korea back in 1998 with precisely 1,001 cows. Since then, we have been calling it the cow bridge. Of course all the cows he took with him were part of humanitarian donations for North Korean people.

• 

  ID Check

  If you look outside, you can see some soldiers wearing a green color camouflage uniform. They are South Korean soldiers or ROK soldiers currently serving their mandatory military service for 21 months. All men in South Korea have to serve the military mandatorily for 21 months, but it’s not required for women. I also served for 26 months a long time ago right after college, and it was longer than right now. Military service is getting shorter and shorter. However, the situation is a lot more terrible in North Korea. First of all, it’s mandatory for both genders, men and women. Men have to serve for 10 years while women serve for 7 years, but this is just for normal kinds of soldiers. For a special forces like Marine Corps and Airborne, they have to serve for 13 years. 

• 

  DMZ theater and exhibition hall

  It’s a unique museum within the civilian control line. The museum, on which the nation and provinces had spent 44.5 billion Korean won, officially opened on 08, 14, 2009. DMZ Showroom displays leaflets used during the 6.25 Korean Civil War, military letters, bayonets, empty cartridges, pottery found in DMZ, taxidermied birds and etc. DMZ Video Room features three-dimensional moving pictures. By watching them, you can easily understand how Korea got divided. 
  

   

• 

  The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel

  The highlight of the DMZ tour is to explore a tunnel dug by North Korea.

  Since 1974, South Army has discovered four tunnels crossing the MDL. The tunnels are believed to have been planned as a military invasion or infiltration route. Each tunnel is large enough to enable the passage of thirty thousand soldiers in one hour.

  The 3^rd tunnel discovered in 1978 penetrates into South Korea by 435 meters beyond the ceasefire line. You are going to hear how the tunnel was discovered with more detailed information. After listening to the story, you will enter into the actual tunnel to find the ambition of North Korea to make another sudden invasion. In addition, you are going to watch a short documentary film at the DMZ theater, and look around relics and reproductions of Korean War at its small exhibition hall. 

• 

  Dora Observatory

  Dora Observatory, or OP Dora is the closest observation post to North Korea.

  From the observation platform, North Korean scenery is visible, and so are the outskirts of Gaeseong City, the 3rd largest city of North Korea. Especially, you can view the Gaeseong Industrial Complex operated by both Koreas. If you use the binocular, a statute of Kim Il-sung can be found near the Gaeseong City.

  You can also observe a fake North Korean border village. Within DMZ of North side, there’s a small village called “Propaganda Village.” On a clear day, you can view through binocular that it is actually a deserted town. Like a multi-million dollar Hollywood filming set, some lights flicker on and off at set times to create the illusion of people living there. 

• 

  Dorasan Station

  A sign in the station reads, “Not the last station from the South, But the first station toward the North.”

  For now, it is the northernmost station of South Korea which is only 700m, or a half mile away from the southern boundary of DMZ. The milestones of Dorasan Station (205km to Pyeongyang, 56km to Seoul) imply the reality of the division between two Koreas and the hope of a future. Although the tracks are connected, the north regime doesn't allow trains to pass through, making $40 million station sit unused.

  However, it serves as a beacon of hope for the reunification of two Koreas. Currently, it’s the last stop, but someday it will take you to Europe through the Trans-Siberian Railway.

• 

  Amethyst or Ginseng Center

  The colour of Amethyst is as unique as it is seductive, though in fact this gemstone of all gemstones is said to protect its wearer against seduction. Korean Amethyst is extravagance in violet since it has been formed from granite stone base since 5000 years. Moses described it as a symbol of the Spirit of God in the official robes of the High Priest of the Jews, and the Russian Empress Catherine the Great sent thousands of miners into the Urals to look for it. It was said to protect crops against tempests and locusts, bring good fortune in war and in the hunt, drive out evil spirits and inspire the intellect. 

  Ginseng is renowned for its effectiveness as a great healer for living ever so young.
  Especially if you eat ginseng when you lose your energy, it really helps to regain energy.
  Korea is acknowledged by the world because of the quality of ginseng as if it is the birthplace of ginseng.
  You can experience various kinds of ginseng products like gingersnap, extract, ginseng preserved in honey, and other great quality of products made in Korea.

• 

  President Hotel
  The President Hotel has two advantages that will make your stay in Seoul more enjoyable - comfort and convenience.
  The hotel is located in the heart of the downtown' City Hall area' Seoul's vibrant centre for business. Convenient transportation is available through the hotel's shuttle service and through the city's extensive public transportation system.
  These provide quick access to downtown offices and shops. Inchon International airport is 1 hour 50 minutes away by car and a shorter time by subway).
  Duksu Palace and the National Museum are accessible in a 10~20 minute walk- Address : 188-3' 1 Ga' Eulji-ro' Jung-gu' Seoul' Korea
  - Homepage : www.hotelpresident.co.kr
  - Tel : +82-2-753-3131
  - Fax: +82-2-752-7417