The so-called observatory like 'Odusan Unification Observatory' is just one among a few places like this scattered along the 38th parallel line that divides the North and South Korea for more than five decades now. The view above is what I saw when I first went there. I was like witnessing the river dividing the two countries in its physical prowess.
Since it is an observatory, binoculars or telescopes are provided at the outdoor area of the complex. By inserting 500 won, visitors could easily spot on the closest ranges of what North Korea might look like. Well, personally...I did not know what to say. I felt like it was a weird thing for us to observe the North Korea by peeping into these binoculars.
Why so? I felt like North Korea being something worth-peeping for. Well, if I were a citizen of a country being observed like that, like some kind of attraction, I would object for sure! It is a sad situation, for sure. Then, something struck me: I wondered if the same observation complexes as the South provides also exist in the North so the North Korean citizens could look into their peer or their brothers at the South. (Though I doubt it myself...I think it natural for me or maybe others to have this kind of thought. Right?)
But, that's the not the point of this observation, although some may think so.
The complex which was built in 1992 serves as one of the educational ways for generations to learn about the real situation of what both Korea are suffering at the moment: the truth about its division.
So, apart from such binoculars--which I think they seem a bit too outrageous--, the ones that serve better are the exhibition halls and the room to experience North Korea. This one lets visitors to learn more about what life might have been in the North. The problem is that ...I am still wondering up to know as to whether the ones being depicted in Odusan does indeed reflect the real truth about what is going on in the North. I can not know for sure. But, I am sure the Odusan Observatory team must've done a great job of bringing facts into reality in this complex.
(pic. above: the unification road --as it is called in the South-is barely visible. Across the river is where the North Korea is). So, close, right? Yet, so far away.
This is the view from the modern-looking observatory complex. One more thing that we could do and see here is the unification exhibition and theater where visitors could learn through audio visual about the life ranging from political, social, political, and other perspectives on the North. Through this, it is hoped that more and more understanding about the need to unify or at least to make a peaceful peninsula right now and in the future keep lingering on in the minds of people across the world.
Suppose visitors could not look into the North visually clear due to the weather, they could just see an explanation provided beside the telescopes.
This is what I'm talking about. The 'lonely' telescopes waiting for visitors to peep into the neighboring country.
The telescopes seemed to say something like this:
"I do hope and wish that someday people won't use us any longer to see the North.
I want them to just go and visit the North directly and see it through their own eyes,
without having to borrow ours."
The famous statues of the so-called guards in the North-South borders of the two Korea.
