North watchful as Korea vets return to border

By HELEN TUNNAH in Seoul

Through a small window, the North Korean soldier trained his binoculars to the south.

Just metres left and right, from concrete observation towers, his comrades did the same.

They must have been puzzled by what they saw. Hundreds of ageing men, now in their sixties and seventies, were sporting berets and medals - giving away their military pasts.

But now laden down with video and still cameras, they were simply taking photographs and queuing to get one step across and into the North Korean border.

It's hard to know what the border guards would have been told about the anniversary commemorations for the armistice, which stopped the fighting in the 1950-53 Korean War.

There has never been a formal end to the war, and the North Korean regime declined invitations to attend the services at Panmunjom.

Not surprising, given that the isolated and suspicious Pyongyang leadership have become international pariahs since admitting last year that they had nuclear capabilities after US President George W. Bush branded them part of a world "axis of evil".

Had they turned up to the service, they would have heard the phrase used again. This time from a North Korean-born South Korean general as he railed against a "miserable" regime which starved its people and threatened world peace.

Tensions have risen since the North Korean nuclear admission, and although the South Korean military is not on a heightened state of alert at the moment, its fear of invasion is evident.

Along the hour-long drive to Panmunjom, the rivers and waterways are heavily fortified. Sentry posts are dotted along the route, not only by the roads but in the middle of the rivers themselves.

Armed soldiers can be seen staring north. The motorway itself is lined with kilometre after kilometre of razor wire - some three or four metres high, and with three rows of the wire in parts. Shallow trenches have been built between the rows, and there are sirens every few hundred metres.

The motorway is flanked by high, steep sides that would be almost impossible to climb.

Yet, just on the other side of the road are the ordinary villages, where people have been living with the fear of war since their country was arbitrarily divided after the Second World War and at the same time hosting some of the 37,000 United States troops who remain in South Korea.

It is some of those soldiers who greet the veterans when they reach the border, who ask them not to wave or speak to anyone on the other side, and who guard the 240km 38th parallel.

There hasn't been much trouble in the demilitarised zone for almost two decades - not since a Russian visiting the northern side decided to make a break for the south. Three North Korean soldiers and a South Korean soldier were killed, and the Russian was sent back.

The visitors are told that as a result of that incident, the South Korean guards peer around the edge of buildings, standing perfectly still, rather than standing exposed as they watch the north.

But minutes after the veterans leave, there is no sign of these guards any more, only a solitary North Korean and the invisible surveillance from both sides.

The posturing in the Korean nuclear crisis is not contained just to formal ceremonies, but is becoming increasingly reflected in the rhetoric from all sides.

While the North Koreans have reportedly set up a war crimes trial for Mr Bush, China is setting itself up as the peacemaker - a position which may not be entirely welcomed, it seems, by the US.

China has already brokered one round of peace talks with itself, the US and North Korea, and may host another meeting next month.

It has received international praise as the one nation able to bring an end to the crisis, and the risk of North Korea using its nuclear weaponry.

However, in Seoul at the weekend, former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a close friend of the Bush Administration and its choice to formally represent the US at the commemorations, warned against thinking that China's motives for helping were altruistic.

The Chinese were, he said, just as self-interested as everybody else.

Prime Minister Helen Clark - even after meeting Dr Kissinger - made it clear New Zealand felt China's role was critical.

"The solution is going to lie in China facilitating the process," she said.

New Zealand was the only other nation to take the stage with the US and South Korea at the ceremony.

Helen Clark called for an end to tensions and also said it was hoped a formal end to the war would one day be declared, and that families divided for more than 50 years could reunite.

Gazing across at North Korea, she spoke of a visit to Pyongyang 11 years ago for a conference of parliamentarians and of the regime's suspiciousness.

"They watched everything.

"It was a deserted capital, with these monumental buildings and war memorials.

"There was no traffic and no bicycles - which is quite unusual in Asia. That's private property and you didn't have private property.

"We went to a function one night ... and they were so paranoid about germs we all had to wash hands at the door.

"It was absolutely fascinating."