North Korea in the Distance

I’ve never been to North Korea and I don’t think I’ll ever go, but I got a glimpse of it once (or twice?):

This was taken from a plane, about to land in Incheon International Airport and the mountains in the background (in the top part of the picture) are indeed North Korea.

One tends to forget that North Korea is so close to Seoul (unless you live in the region, I would assume).

For us, Westerners, this odd (understatement here) country is somewhat unreal, in a far and distant land, but I have to admit that it felt strange to see it for real, even from the distance.

Here in Japan, it regularly comes in the news, as one of the Japanese media’s fearmongering devices. A lot of Japanese people are convinced that North Korea will attack them one day. I think it’s quite unrealistic and would be a suicidal act from the North Korean leadership, at least as long as the US is a military superpower.

Anyways, for some reason, actually seeing North Korea in the distance this way kinda reminded me when Pippin saw Mordor for the first time from a balcony in Minas Tirith for some reason.