Imjingak & Paju DMZ

The Armistice Agreement of 1953 created the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) across the middle of the Korean Peninsula. Paju city summarises that in 1958 the “Return-to-Farming Line” became the “Civilian Control Line”, and civilian access was restricted.

Two Gyeongui Line railway bridges once stood side by side over the Imjin River; during the war one was destroyed and only its piers remained. In 1953, 12,773 prisoners of war returned along this route to freedom, and so the temporary wooden bridge was named the “Bridge of Freedom”.

On 1 January 2000, at 0:00, the Bell of Peace at Imjingak rang 21 times. In 2004 the Gyeongui Line steam locomotive from Jangdan Station, which had been hit in the war and left in the Demilitarized Zone, became a Registered Cultural Heritage item (No. 78), and it has been moved to its present place and put on display.

The 3rd Tunnel was discovered on 10 June 1978, and the Dora Observatory has been open to the public since January 1987. The present building was newly built and relocated in October 2018. Paju city’s DMZ peace tourism began in 2002.

You can look around the Imjingak plaza and monuments on foot. The 3rd Tunnel, Dora Observatory and Tongilchon are inside the Civilian Control Zone, and Paju city advises using its linked DMZ peace tourism.

You cannot enter without ID. For foreigners only a passport, an alien registration card or a US military ID is accepted; copies, screenshots and passports whose period of stay has ended are not. Tickets can be bought only after everyone in your party has arrived at Imjingak. Ticket sales and reservation ticketing run from 09:00 to 14:30, and it is said to sell out early on many days.

It is closed every Monday, on weekday public holidays, and on Lunar New Year’s Day and Chuseok Day. Access may be restricted and reservations cancelled without prior notice because of security threats or weather.

Photography and filming, including by drone, are entirely prohibited on the course. There is no separate tourist guide, and the 3rd Tunnel is narrow and steeply sloped inside, so people who use a wheelchair or have trouble getting around may not be able to enter. Paju city states that it applies no discount to foreigners. The reservation site opens in Korean only, and it shows that an English service is being prepared.

Panmunjom (JSA) is not part of this course. The Ministry of Unification states that its Panmunjom tour can be applied for only by citizens of the Republic of Korea aged 8 and over, that groups and foreigners cannot apply, and that the assembly point is the Panmunjom Tour Information Office at Imjingak.

If you bring a car, parking at Imjingak is 1,000 won for compact cars, 2,000 won for small and mid-size cars and 5,000 won for large vehicles. By public transport, it is about a 20-minute walk from Imjingang Station on the Gyeongui–Jungang Line, and you can take village bus 058A or 058B from the Imjingang Station stop.