Lankan Ranger
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North Korean eyes open as Hillary Clinton passes by
The curious North Korean soldier peering through the window must have had quite the surprise.
Mrs Clinton was briefly on the North Korean side of the room
Instead of the usual group of camera-toting tourists inside the sky blue building straddling the demilitarised border between North and South Korea, two high-profile visitors and their retinue of advisors and bodyguards were being briefed by an American commander from the UN Central Command.
The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates, the defence secretary, did not peek back.
The visit to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas appeared almost like a poke in the eye of North Korea by a US administration frustrated by its inability to restart denuclearisation talks with Pyongyang in the last year-and-a-half.
North Korea: A Secretive State
Its hands tied by the fear that if it pushes Pyongyang too aggressively it could aggravate tensions on the Korean peninsula and cause a crisis with Beijing, Washington is reduced to relying on mostly symbolic gestures.
Among those are joint US-South Korean military exercises, further sanctions targeting a North Korean elite that has survived years of sanctions and the dramatic visit to the last remaining Cold War dividing line - which seemed to unnerve the men guarding Kim Jong-il's isolated country.
Dividing line
Not since Madeleine Albright's visit to Pyongyang in 2000, has a US cabinet member been so close to North Korea.
The border between North and South Korea runs through the table in fact, for just a few minutes, Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates were actually in North Korea, or at least in the North's side of the Military Armistice Commission meeting room in the DMZ.
The rectangular building has one door opening onto the South, the other onto the North, guarded on the inside by a South Korean soldier from the Joint Security Area.
The stern looking North Korean soldier was standing just north of the dividing line that runs through the building. Perhaps he wanted to make sure Mr Gates and Mrs Clinton were not walking through the North's door and into his territory.
The large group surrounding Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates was continuously monitored from across the border, with one North Korean guard taking pictures from the steps of Panmungak, a grey Stalinist structure overlooking the border, and Freedom House, the ceremonial building on the southern side.
Under a light drizzle, the group moved in and out of Freedom House amidst some indecision about where the two secretaries would make their comments to the press.
As the journalists, advisors and guards walked down the steps of Freedom House towards the MAC building, an alarmed North Korean guard ran down the steps of Panmungak towards the border.
"It struck me that although it may be a thin line, these two countries are worlds apart," said Mrs Clinton during the visit, which was planned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean war.
BBC News - North Korean eyes open as Hillary Clinton passes by
The curious North Korean soldier peering through the window must have had quite the surprise.
Mrs Clinton was briefly on the North Korean side of the room
Instead of the usual group of camera-toting tourists inside the sky blue building straddling the demilitarised border between North and South Korea, two high-profile visitors and their retinue of advisors and bodyguards were being briefed by an American commander from the UN Central Command.
The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates, the defence secretary, did not peek back.
The visit to the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas appeared almost like a poke in the eye of North Korea by a US administration frustrated by its inability to restart denuclearisation talks with Pyongyang in the last year-and-a-half.
North Korea: A Secretive State
Its hands tied by the fear that if it pushes Pyongyang too aggressively it could aggravate tensions on the Korean peninsula and cause a crisis with Beijing, Washington is reduced to relying on mostly symbolic gestures.
Among those are joint US-South Korean military exercises, further sanctions targeting a North Korean elite that has survived years of sanctions and the dramatic visit to the last remaining Cold War dividing line - which seemed to unnerve the men guarding Kim Jong-il's isolated country.
Dividing line
Not since Madeleine Albright's visit to Pyongyang in 2000, has a US cabinet member been so close to North Korea.
The border between North and South Korea runs through the table in fact, for just a few minutes, Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates were actually in North Korea, or at least in the North's side of the Military Armistice Commission meeting room in the DMZ.
The rectangular building has one door opening onto the South, the other onto the North, guarded on the inside by a South Korean soldier from the Joint Security Area.
The stern looking North Korean soldier was standing just north of the dividing line that runs through the building. Perhaps he wanted to make sure Mr Gates and Mrs Clinton were not walking through the North's door and into his territory.
The large group surrounding Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates was continuously monitored from across the border, with one North Korean guard taking pictures from the steps of Panmungak, a grey Stalinist structure overlooking the border, and Freedom House, the ceremonial building on the southern side.
Under a light drizzle, the group moved in and out of Freedom House amidst some indecision about where the two secretaries would make their comments to the press.
As the journalists, advisors and guards walked down the steps of Freedom House towards the MAC building, an alarmed North Korean guard ran down the steps of Panmungak towards the border.
"It struck me that although it may be a thin line, these two countries are worlds apart," said Mrs Clinton during the visit, which was planned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean war.
BBC News - North Korean eyes open as Hillary Clinton passes by
