Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Richardjw84]

I'm based in Seoul and thinking of going to the DMZ one day over the Chuseok holidays... I understand that you have to go on an organised tour and there are a number of tour companies to choose from but I have no idea which is the best one to go for so can anyone make a recommendation? I'd like to see as much of the DMZ as possible and don't mind spending the full day there.

Thanks!

[niceguysfinishlast]

This probably isn't what you are looking for but I found it interesting. The Vice Guide to North Korea

http://www.vbs.tv/watch/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3

[ed4444]

The USO tour is the best one.

[bossface]

seconded. USO is head and shoulders the best, the others basically take you to places you could get to on a train or bus on your own. USO is the only one that actually goes into the DMZ and to the actual border.

[Savant]

Is it possible to take your Korean partner on the USO tour?
I think I read that it's possible but they need some Korean Government authorization?

[Richardjw84]

Thanks for the info guys! I'm gonna book the USO tour today.

[Mr. Peabody]

[nobbyken]

[furtakk]

Any tour that takes you to the JSA should be fine. The USO does for sure, not sure which other ones do.

I really liked the USO tour mostly because of the guides. The Korean guide for part of the tour knew her stuff pretty well and the American guides for the JSA part were also quite good.

It is a bit more expensive and doesn't include the lunch though.

[joesp]

All the tours these guys are talking about are a rip off. I paid like 120,000 won for what I thought was the best tour, including Panmunjeon and a tunnel tour (the one closest to Seoul) and Freedom Bridge. These are all nice sounding names.

However, these tours are for people who cannot get themselves to Imjingak. I don't know how to get there, but there is public transportation there. What you pay out of the 120,000 is about 80,000 to listen to the history of the DMZ for the hour ride up there. Complete waste of money. Once you get to Imjingak, you can basically buy any tour you want for less than 10,000. The 120,000 price tag is for people who (a) don't know anything about Korea or getting themselves to Imjingak, and (b) those who are in Korea for only 3 days and want to get a quick and dirty DMZ tour out of the way, even if they have to pay 100,000 more per person.

For example, we did the first half of the day with a different tour guide, different tour commpany ... then they made us eat in 15 minutes and put us on another bus with another tour guide for the rest of the day. We could've done all this ourselves.

Also, the tours cover basic information only. If you read the wikipedia page on the DMZ you will learn everything you have to know about the DMZ. It was all in all pretty disappointing. I don't even think there was one thing worthwhile. The tour guide sounded more like propaganda about explaining about all the tricks North Korea played on South Korea and it was really for people who don't have any knowledge at all about modern Korean history.

So, I strongly recommend just getting yourself to Imjingak and see what is available. However, with Chuseok, who knows about the bus schedule.

[joesp]

I think because it is a rip-off they have strict no-refund policies. Once you find out the truth, you would otherwise try to cancel.