Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0068
Erin Wisti
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Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0183
Patrick Hicks
The tunnel was low, narrow. My yellow hard hat clacked against the chiseled ceiling and I had to stoop as I moved forward. Dim lights had been hammered into the walls and the air was cool. Whenever I touched the rough granite, I felt a gritty dampness on my fingertips. But this cramped space wasn't designed for tourists like me—it was designed for North Korean soldiers who would charge ahead, rifles at the ready.We had been moving through the tunnel in a hunched shuffle for nearly half a mile and I ached to stand up. In the small of my back, at that place where the spine meets the pelvic gridle, my muscles throbbed. I glanced at the jagged ceiling just inches above me and couldn't help but wonder if it would hold. I imagined the rock fissuring open, a thunderous crack, and all of us being crushed in this surreal space. A quick death, I suppose. I focused on each step and considered that I was moving closer to North Korea. If I were able to look up through the tonnage of rock, I'd see landmines planted in rich soil, their coiled bodies waiting in the dark to blossom open.The DMZ is one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It's a gash that runs across the Korean peninsula from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan. The border mostly follows the 38th Parallel. And although it's called a “demilitarized zone,” it is anything but peaceful. Concrete battlements bristle with machine guns, listening devices turn their huge ears toward the enemy, razor wire is scribbled above walls, and thousands of soldiers stare at each other with binoculars. Since the DMZ was established in 1953, hardly a living soul has set foot in it, and this means it has become something of an accidental wildlife refuge. The biodiversity is so unique that it's common to find endangered animals here, like the Asiatic black bear, the Siberian tiger, and the red-crowned crane.In the 1970s, North Korea built several tunnels beneath the DMZ in the hopes of moving troops through them and launching a surprise attack. It was believed that 30,000 soldiers might run through these tunnels and charge Seoul, which is only twenty-five miles away. In October 1978, an underground explosion happened near Panmunjom and the South Korean army immediately suspected that a tunnel was being burrowed beneath their feet. An intercept tunnel was hastily built, and in this way, South Korea discovered what would become known as the Third Tunnel of Aggression (제3땅굴). A fourth tunnel would be discovered a few months later.Today there's no need for secret tunnels because North Korea can lob long-range artillery shells onto Seoul whenever it pleases. Rather than dynamite the Third Tunnel and seal it off for good, the Republic of Korea has transformed it into a bizarre and morally questionable tourist attraction. Before we went down to see it, our guide mentioned that “North Korea built one of the most popular tourist sites on the DMZ. We're now making money off their failure.” He reminded us, yet again, that if we'
{"title":"The Borderlands","authors":"Patrick Hicks","doi":"10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0183","url":null,"abstract":"The tunnel was low, narrow. My yellow hard hat clacked against the chiseled ceiling and I had to stoop as I moved forward. Dim lights had been hammered into the walls and the air was cool. Whenever I touched the rough granite, I felt a gritty dampness on my fingertips. But this cramped space wasn't designed for tourists like me—it was designed for North Korean soldiers who would charge ahead, rifles at the ready.We had been moving through the tunnel in a hunched shuffle for nearly half a mile and I ached to stand up. In the small of my back, at that place where the spine meets the pelvic gridle, my muscles throbbed. I glanced at the jagged ceiling just inches above me and couldn't help but wonder if it would hold. I imagined the rock fissuring open, a thunderous crack, and all of us being crushed in this surreal space. A quick death, I suppose. I focused on each step and considered that I was moving closer to North Korea. If I were able to look up through the tonnage of rock, I'd see landmines planted in rich soil, their coiled bodies waiting in the dark to blossom open.The DMZ is one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It's a gash that runs across the Korean peninsula from the Yellow Sea to the Sea of Japan. The border mostly follows the 38th Parallel. And although it's called a “demilitarized zone,” it is anything but peaceful. Concrete battlements bristle with machine guns, listening devices turn their huge ears toward the enemy, razor wire is scribbled above walls, and thousands of soldiers stare at each other with binoculars. Since the DMZ was established in 1953, hardly a living soul has set foot in it, and this means it has become something of an accidental wildlife refuge. The biodiversity is so unique that it's common to find endangered animals here, like the Asiatic black bear, the Siberian tiger, and the red-crowned crane.In the 1970s, North Korea built several tunnels beneath the DMZ in the hopes of moving troops through them and launching a surprise attack. It was believed that 30,000 soldiers might run through these tunnels and charge Seoul, which is only twenty-five miles away. In October 1978, an underground explosion happened near Panmunjom and the South Korean army immediately suspected that a tunnel was being burrowed beneath their feet. An intercept tunnel was hastily built, and in this way, South Korea discovered what would become known as the Third Tunnel of Aggression (제3땅굴). A fourth tunnel would be discovered a few months later.Today there's no need for secret tunnels because North Korea can lob long-range artillery shells onto Seoul whenever it pleases. Rather than dynamite the Third Tunnel and seal it off for good, the Republic of Korea has transformed it into a bizarre and morally questionable tourist attraction. Before we went down to see it, our guide mentioned that “North Korea built one of the most popular tourist sites on the DMZ. We're now making money off their failure.” He reminded us, yet again, that if we'","PeriodicalId":53750,"journal":{"name":"Fourth Genre-Explorations in Nonfiction","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134942344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0159
Tanya Bomsta
{"title":"Against the End of the World","authors":"Tanya Bomsta","doi":"10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.0159","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53750,"journal":{"name":"Fourth Genre-Explorations in Nonfiction","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42747696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-01DOI: 10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.000v
J. Franklin, Patrick Madden
{"title":"A Break in the Clouds","authors":"J. Franklin, Patrick Madden","doi":"10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.000v","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14321/fourthgenre.25.1.000v","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53750,"journal":{"name":"Fourth Genre-Explorations in Nonfiction","volume":"25 1","pages":"v - vi"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48295670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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