We got on the bus again. Our bus went down the hill and stopped by at a bridge that was called "The Bridge of No Return". We weren't permited to go out of the bus and pictures in this entry were taken through the window. This point was in the most dangerous area as I wrote in the last entry so no soldier was stationed here. We were temporarily guarded by the soldiers on the jeeps before and behind the bus.
This bridge was located at the west end of the JSA (Joint Security Area) and ran across Sa-chon river (沙川橋, 사천교), which was the MDL. The prisoner exchange in 1953 after the ceasefire treaty of the Korean War was carried out on this bridge. Prisoners chose the North or the South as their home and after their decision they would never return to the opposite side. It was because of this that this bridge started to be named the Bridge of No Return. Now, this bridge is thought of as the symbol of the division of the country.
The North Korean side was a sleepy village and at the South side there was the scene of the Axe Murder Incident. I wrote an article about it before. The URL is http://kumo.typepad.jp/weblog/2009/03/axe-murder-inci.html
The second picture was the monument of the incident. The circular base of the monument showed the size of the poplar tree that was cut during the incident. We prayed silently for two victims here. The last picture is the U.N. lookout post where we had been 10 minutes before. The point where we were was being guarded from here.
(Vocabulary)
bridge that runs across the river 川にかかっている橋
armistice line / military demarcation line (MDL) 軍事境界線
pray silently 黙とうする
guard post / lookout post 監視所
この橋は、板門店の共同警備区域西端に位置する橋。軍事境界線となっている沙川江に架かっている。本来の名は沙川橋（サチョンギョ／사천교）。
1953年の朝鮮戦争停戦後の捕虜交換がこの橋で行われた。捕虜たちがこの橋の上で南北いずれかの方向を選択すると二度と帰って来ることができないことから「帰らざる橋」と呼ばれるようになった。以来、南北分断の象徴となっている。北朝鮮側に村があり、国連側の警備所の近くにはポプラ事件の現場がある。
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