Korean DMZ Tour with Defector

The tour was sufficient to see the DMZ, and is the only way. I hoped to learn more than I did, and felt like we rushed through a long day. You can’t avoid crowds when everyone has to do the same thing, but our tour guide Jackie made things more confusing and hectic. His instructions were often unclear, although he repeated himself over and over. It didn’t seem well planned or organized, as we were off and on the bus 4 times at one stop. First for a bathroom break, then everyone got back on for the Q&A, then we got off for 25 mins of free time, and then once we were all back on the bus he announced we were all getting off to do a walking tour of the area we had all just spent 25 mins at. The bus never moved. We did not know what was happening next the whole time, and those with mobility issues struggled. I also feel like I didn’t learn much. Jackie repeated basic facts over and over, but without much depth. I was disappointed to not learn more, and learned more from overhearing other tour guides around us. I’m glad I didn’t do the bridge add on, as the day was long enough for me. Add to that, they added a surprise stop at the end in Seoul for one more sales pitch. I didn’t get off the bus, and was frustrated by the unexpected detour through Seoul traffic. Jackie often diminished peoples question when instructions were unclear, the way he talked to some people wasn’t very nice. Also, during the Q&A, I could tell he wasn’t translating the speakers story directly, but was just saying what he thought. At the end of the tour, Jackie went row by row on the bus making sure everybody left him a “good review”, not backing down until someone was able to scan the QR code and show him they had the review screen up. I wanted to learn history, not be a part of an 8 hour sales pitch.

An unforgettable experience thanks to Jackie the storyteller he has made everything easier always attentive.

This was a very insightful and enjoyable experience. Jackie was informational and amusing. We had the North Korean defector on the tour (not the suspension bridge add-on though) and the interview was amazing and definitely a highlight. She was fantastic at answering questions and her story brought such an interesting dimension to the tour. Thought-provoking with plenty of things to do.

Best DMZ tour highly recommended with the excellent guide Han. He id extremely knowledgable. He made all the stops and he has all the information that you need about the history of the DMZ, Northkorea that he readily shares. The best tour!!!

It was informative and interesting. It was great to hear from the North Korean refugee on the bus. The tunnel was very hard and I would have avoided that if I had realised how difficult it was physically. The rest was all great! The host Han marvellous. Except he never sent the group photo from front of the DMZ sign he promised to send everyone…. But that is a small thing. It is a long day but worth it.