A DMZ 'gardening job' that almost sparked a war

It is very strange that the article doesn't establish if "mutual consent" was needed to trim shrubs or not. Seems like a core element to contextualize the whole event.

I did a little digging but even I cannot figure it out. The JSA was created via the Military Armistice Commission under the The Korean War Armistice Agreement. But I cannot find the documentation that actually establishes the JSA itself.

PS - It is NOT this: https://peacemaker.un.org/koreadprk-militaryarmistice53 that's just the Korean War Armistice which doesn't define the JSA.

This article is a rather poor re-telling of the situation and glosses over contextual information. In addition to the wikipedia article on this specific incident (which is itself a much more accurate record of the event), here's a truncated list of other issues at the DMZ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_border_incidents_invol...

"One of the South Korean soldiers who participated in Operation Paul Bunyan, Moon Jae-in, was elected President of South Korea in 2017."

I mean, it was a tree removal. They just don't typically involve B-52s, fighter cover, and an aircraft carrier battle group.

According to the Wikipedia entry, in the initial incident they were just trimming the tree, not cutting it down.

It's not common knowledge, but several other countries sent troops to fight in the Vietnam War - it wasn't just the US, but included Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and South Korea.

From what I've read, the reputation of the SK troops was something else - they elicited real fear in the VC and NVA troops. The claymores don't really surprise me.

What did he do?

Fun fact: Many many South Korean college students who actively agitated for democracy around that era were specifically sent to the very front area of the DMZ or tougher assignments. So Moon did not volunteer for the special forces, but was volunteered.

The idea was to help educate the naive young kids about the realities of North Korea facing off with South Korea by stationing them right on the DMZ.

Also, Moon was not one of the few dozen troops that were on scene with claymore mines. The entire armed forces of S Korea was put on alert at the time and he was in uniform at the time.

Second this. I've been nearly a hundred countries, and the DMZ was one of the most interesting sites I've seen anywhere. It's pretty different than most sites a tourist can see, because it's an active militarized zone where history is still unfolding.

Definitely recommend researching the best tour companies online, because it makes a big difference.

Also, the Korean War* Museum is AMAZING.

*It's really more a full military history / history of Korea museum, not focused on JUST the 1950's war.

You aren't alone. I was thinking somebody went about pruning some server instances, and legal departments getting up in arms over SLA'sor something.

Alas...

Reminds me of the Immovable Ladder.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_Quo_(Jerusalem_and_Be...

What makes you say that? Tensions are pretty low at the moment.

2 is fewer than 178,000+.

It's no different than the crazy person I walk by every morning on the way to work. They have nothing to lose. I have everything. It's not worth it for me to get involved.

These sort of border skirmishes happen every once in a while on heavily militarized borders between hostile nations, usually to much less fanfare.

Arguably, the US doesn't quite have the moral high ground in Asia...

There is another side to the "bludgeoned to death with axes and clubs". They took those implements from the american team. So the unarmed North Koreans disarmed several of the Americans, turning those weapons around to kill two officers. That is a massive humiliation, particularly for the types of people selected for DMZ duty at that time. That humiliation was a factor in the american response, but equally it was a point of pride for the North Koreans.

Leaders on both side saw this back-and-forth, realized the emotions involved, and pulled back. That makes the incident a learning experience that, ironically, increased faith and probably defused tensions in the long term. Similar dustups would occur throughout the cold war and continue to this day.

It happens all the time. Iran Air 655, for instance? You should be horrified that that or KAL-007 happened. But everyone kinda got away with both, and those were innocent civilians.

Not at all. The line of sight is described as being required for legitimate military purposes.

And in international relations, it's generally very much a case of give-an-inch-and-they'll-take-a-mile. Seemingly disproportionate importance must be given to the tiniest things, because the enemy will be constantly testing you looking for weakness.

In a case like this, if the US and South Korea aren't hyper-vigilant about every single thing, it's an indication that political or popular support may be waning, and an indication to North Korea that it might be possible to reinvade and take over the entire peninsula.

If you don't believe this, it's a big part of what allowed Germany to take over Europe in WWII -- that vigilance wasn't taken seriously. Germany pushed what was "acceptable" more and more until it was too late.

It's not about the tree -- it's about fundamental legitimacy being upheld.