>From the 12/27/97 post of Michael Price:

<< The DMZ of Eden
Pennsylvania State University biologist Ke Chung Kim wrote in the journal
Science that the two-and-a-half-mile-wide demilitarized zone separating
North and South Korea along their 150-mile border should become a nature
preserve because the 40-plus years without human intervention have produced
a unique ecosystem of rare animal and plant life. (I'd wonder if for many of
them getting blown up by mines is a natural part of the life cycle--M) >>

Having served in the trenches of what is now the Korean DMZ, and having been
in the trench on the evening of July 27th, 1953 when the exploding white
phosphorous mortar shells signaled the beginning of the cease fire, I believe
that the conditions of "I'd wonder if for many of them getting blown up by
mines is a natural part of the life cycle" is much more preferable than having
humans blown up by land mines and the rain of mortars, artillery and bullets
that I and thousands of others experienced during that "U. N. Police Action".
In completing my tour unscathed, I was one of the fortunate ones.

When I now see pictures of the Korean DMZ, I can't relate to the area. The
pictures show a green and flourishing rolling countryside. Though I don't
remember what types of foliage existed there, I remember that it was virtually
non-existent, due to the almost constant battering from the weapons of war.
Freshly fallen snow on the rocky hillsides in the morning would make the world
appear surreally alien, but it would soon be wiped out and virtually
eliminated by barrages of mortars and artillery. Nighttime trench duty was
accompanied by the constant din of thousands (probably millions) of hantavirus
laden rats rummaging through discarded C ration cans and other relics of
warriors entry into this zone, the same rats who scurried around in our
bunkers as we tried to get some sleep under unbelievable conditions. At night
both U. S. Marine and Chinese patrols scoured the no-man's land that lie
between us, each man exposing himself to the potential of a land mine or some
other form of entrapment created in that mad mad world. When these partrols
would invariably meet, it meant the eruption of small arms fire and grenades
crossing paths in the darkness.

I detest the rape of the planet that continues to this day, but I have a
difference with those who would place the life of an animal above that of a
human. Somewhere, somehow there is a balance between the two. As we learn to
live in harmony with each other, we can learn to live in balance and harmony
with the flora and fauna of the planet as well.

I do not fault Michael Price's comment. There really aren't many who know
what has been in this part of Korea. If the loss of life of an animal to a
land mine currently occurs in the DMZ, so be it. It is far better than what
has been.

Jim Brewster
Kent Washington