Third Tunnel of Aggression
{{Short description|Tunnel from North Korea under the border}}
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The Third Tunnel of Aggression (Korean: 제3땅굴; Third Infiltration Tunnel or 3rd Tunnel) is one of four known tunnels under the border between North Korea and South Korea, extending south of Panmunjom.
Background
Only {{convert|44|km|mi|abbr=in}} from Seoul, the incomplete tunnel was discovered in October 1978 following the detection of an underground explosion in June 1978, apparently caused by the tunnellers who had progressed {{convert|435|m|ft|abbr=off}} under the south side of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). It took four months to locate the tunnel precisely and dig an intercept tunnel.
The incomplete tunnel is {{convert|1635|m|mi|1|abbr=off}} long, {{convert|1.95|m|ftin|abbr=on}} at its maximum height and {{convert|2.1|m|ftin|abbr=on}} wide.{{cite report |url=http://www.imjinscout.com/images/North_Korean_Tunnels.pdf |title=Secret Tunnel Under Panmunjom |publisher=Korean Overseas Information Service |date=October 1978 |access-date=2 January 2016 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084820/http://www.imjinscout.com/images/North_Korean_Tunnels.pdf |url-status=dead }} It runs through bedrock at a depth of about {{convert|73|m|ft|abbr=on}} below ground. It was apparently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul from North Korea, and could, according to visitor information in the tunnel, accommodate 30,000 men per hour along with light weaponry.{{cite news|last=Moore|first=Malcolm|title= Inside North Korea's Third Tunnel of Aggression|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/9902611/Inside_North_Koreas_Third_Tunnel_of_Aggression/|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=May 26, 2009 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090713205208/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/malcolmmoore/9902611/Inside_North_Koreas_Third_Tunnel_of_Aggression/| archive-date=13 July 2009}} Upon discovery of the third tunnel, the United Nations Command accused North Korea of threatening the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement signed at the end of the Korean War.{{cite book|last=Zartman|first=I. William|title=Preventive negotiation: avoiding conflict escalation|year=2001|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8476-9895-0|page=97}} Its description as a "tunnel of aggression" was given by South Korea, who considered it an act of aggression on the part of North Korea.
Initially, North Korea denied building the tunnel.{{cite book|author-link=Steven Strauss|last=Strauss|first=Steven D.|title=The complete idiot's guide to world conflicts|year=2002|publisher=Alpha Books|isbn=978-0-02-864366-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu0000stra/page/121 121]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/completeidiotsgu0000stra/page/121}} North Korea then declared it part of a coal mine,{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=David|title=SEOUL lives life on the edge / Just 35 miles from the border with North Korea, the city crackles with a newfound sense of style|url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/SEOUL-lives-life-on-the-edge-Just-35-miles-from-2557590.php|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=June 3, 2007}} the tunnel having been blackened by construction explosions. Signs in the tunnel claim that there is no geological likelihood of coal being in the area. The walls of the tunnel where tourists are taken are observably granite, a stone of igneous origin, whereas coal would be found in stone of sedimentary origin.{{cite report| title=Tunnel Detection|url=http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/jason/tunnel.pdf |work=SRI International (JASON Technical Report) |publisher=Federation of American Scientists |author1=J. F. Vesecky |author2=W. A. Nierenberg |author3=A. M. Despain |date=April 1980 |id=JSR-79-11}}
A total of four tunnels have been discovered so far, but there are believed to be up to twenty more.{{cite web|title=Korea Demilitarized Zone Incidents|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/dmz.htm|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org}} The South Korean Armed Forces still devotes specialist resources to finding infiltration tunnels, though tunnels are much less significant now that North Korean long-range artillery and missiles have become more effective.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19252862 |title=Hunt for North Korea's 'hidden tunnels' |author=Lucy Williamson |publisher=BBC |date=23 August 2012 |access-date=2 January 2016}}
Tourist site
The tunnel is now a tourist site, though still well guarded.{{cite web |url=http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_1.jsp |title=Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Tours |publisher=Korea Tourism Organization |date=14 September 2015 |access-date=2 January 2016 |archive-date=6 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106163552/http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_1.jsp |url-status=dead }}
Visitors enter either by walking down a long steep incline that starts in a lobby with a gift shop or via a rubber-tyred train that contains a driver at the front or the back (depending on the direction as there is only one set of rails) and padded seats facing forward and backwards in rows for up to three passengers each.{{Cite news|url=http://news.joins.com/article/22050458|title=If you spend 10,000 won, you can trip security tourism|date=2017-10-26|work=JoongAng Ilbo|access-date=2018-05-11|language=ko-KR}} Photography is forbidden within the tunnel.{{Cite web|url=http://news.jtbc.joins.com/article/article.aspx?news_id=NB11627212|title=Foreigners who found DMZ|date=2018-04-30|website=JTBC News|language=ko|access-date=2018-05-11}} The South Koreans have blocked the actual Military Demarcation Line in the tunnel with three concrete barricades. Tourists can walk as far as the third barricade, and the second barricade is visible through a small window in the third.{{Cite news|url=http://www.kgnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=497852|title=Paju DMZ_Third tunnel|access-date=2018-05-11|language=ko}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cite report |url=http://www.imjinscout.com/images/North_Korean_Tunnels.pdf |title=Secret Tunnel Under Panmunjom |publisher=Korean Overseas Information Service |date=October 1978 |access-date=2016-01-02 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084820/http://www.imjinscout.com/images/North_Korean_Tunnels.pdf |url-status=dead }}
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Category:Korean Demilitarized Zone
Category:Tunnels in North Korea