A Dragon Swamp is a Microfilm, which Taped a History of Nature. Fish Hunting of the North Korean Soldiers A Masterpiece of Joint Effort of the North and South Koreas, Seung-Il Gyo(Seung-Il Bridge)

[This on-the-spot survey is excerpted from publishing contents of a daily report of Gangwon-do residents, which was published serially for the past 3 years as a column name 'DMZ' by an editorial writer 'Kwang-Bork Ham', and a collection of prose 'DMZ is not a boarder' from a publishing house 'literature town' on Aug/1995]

A Masterpiece of Joint Effort of the North and South Koreas, Seung-Il Gyo (Seung-Il Bridge).

Seung-il gyo, which lies on Hantangang, was jointly constructed by both South and North Korea. People made this poetic name, which implies that "you, the North Korea, constructed one half of it, and we, the South Korea, finished the other half. The North Korea started construction of this bridge before the Korean War began, and the South Korea finished the construction after the Korean War. The name "Seung-il gyo" comes from the name of the president of the South Korea and the ruler of the North Korea at that time. "Seung" came from Seung-man Lee, and "Il" came from Il-sung Kim. It could have been called something like a "Joint Bridge" because it was jointly constructed by both Koreas, but they dared to use Seung-man Lee and In-sung Kim in the name of this bridge. Civilians in Kimhwa, Chulwon, remember the time when they were recruited to build this bridge. Myeong-ryeo Kim, the engineering manager at Chulwon Farm at that time, was famous for architecting a chimney of an iron refinery at Jinnampo. This bridge, which was designed by Myeong-ryeo Kim, had a very unfamiliar shape at that time. Three piers were connecting upper part of the bridge with an arch shape. It was said to be the new European technology came from Russia. During the early phase of the construction, the Korean War began. During the war, it stayed half-finished. When the war ended in 1954, the other half of the bridge was temporarily constructed with wood, and it was named "Seung-il gyo." The North Korean originally named the bridge "Hantangyo." (Hantan Bridge) The temporary wooden bridge was soon removed, and the government of the South Korea had the unfinished half re-designed. On December 3rd, 1958, the bridge was reborn with the name "Seung-il gyo" engraved on. Considering its size or its background, "Nambuk gyo" (Brifge of north and south) or "Joint Bridge" aren't really suitable names for it. Hantangang is a rough river. It crosses the middle of Chulwon Plain carving off the land beside it. You can't find any banks or small bridges at shallow areas on this river. This untamed river runs through the plain carving off the ground with its wilderness. For this reason, riverbanks are all very stiff.

270,000 years ago, lava from Orisan in Pyeonggang covered Pyeonggang Heights and flew through Chulwon Plains to Jungok. Every time the volcano erupted, a new basalt layer was created to make a wide lava plateau. Hantangang carved down through weak part of this lava plateau. And it resulted the stiff valleys which we see now. "Seung-Il gyo" lies its ends on the both sides of the cliffs. It is a magnificent bridge with 120m in length, 35m in height, and 8m in width. And it is not an ordinary bridge. Some people call it a Korean version of the bridge on the River Kwai. In fact, this bridge, which barely connects the stiff cliffs, does remind us the bridge on the River Kwai. With its rough current and sharp rocks, Hantangang would be a good spot for a ceremonial bungee jump on memorial days such as June 25th or the Independence Day. However, the beautiful line of the bridge, consisted with 2 big arches and 26 small arches, is considered as the acme of the beauty of bridges. Sometimes you can see people rafting on Hantangang from the bridge these days. No one can deny the fact that it would have been more beautiful that Le Pont Mirabeau if put on Seine River. Two halves of this bridge were constructed separately by the North and South Koreas, and it has an asymmetric shape. The northern arch has of 16 small arches supported by 14 bents. However, the southern arch is consisted of 8 small arches with 6 bents. The southern part might seem shapeless compared with delicate northern part, but it has some dignity in its design. An endless path to our lost motherland lies ahead behind the bridge. You can go through old Chulwon, Myojang-myeon, and Inmok-myeon to Bongchunwon, and ancient capital city. And you can reach further to Pyeonggang Heights, which seems to be connected with the sky. However, DMZ at Woljung-li blocks this road towards the north. Because of this, people want to stress the fact that "Seung-Il gyo" was built by North and South Koreas together, which is implied by its name. The name is implying their wish that "as we built each half of this bridge, we could break down each side of the 38th Parallel together." People transformed the method of reunion, which this bridge is telling us into the name of the bridge. However, some people opposed to this progressive and implicative name and changed it to Seung-Il gyo. And they even made up a myth related to the new name and engraved it on a stone epitaph beside the bridge. The engraved story is as follows. [The North Korean armies invaded us when this bridge was half constructed, and we finished the construction after the war was over. This bridge was named after Captain Seung-il park, who died in a battle for unifying our motherland. It was named after him in memory of his patriotism by the Commander of the 5th army corps, General Sung-ki Lee, upon the completion of the bridge on December 3rd, 1958. ] At the midstream of Hantangang, there is a bridge called "Geun-hong gyo" (Geunhong Bridge) where there was Sumrye Naru (Sumrye Ferry) a long time ago. The bridge connects Yeoncheon and Kwanin of Gyeonggi-do. Not many people know the reason why this bridge is called "Geun-hong gyo" when there are many other names related to the region. The soldiers who built this bridge named after General Geun-hong Hong, who was very brave on the battlefields around Hantangang. "Seung-Il gyo" is the name which came up from the same soldiers who inherited the spirit of "Geunhonggyo." They just couldn't tolerate the fact that the name "Il-sung Kim" engraved on people's mind, let alone on the bridge, when the reunion of the countries was yet to be achieved. Or, they were ashamed to fix and use the bridge that the North Koreans were building, and even borrow a name for it. Captain Seung-il Park who died in 1950 on a battlefield didn't cross this bridge, which was first used with temporary wooden structure in 1954. Even Young-bae Kim, a native historian who explained the history of the bridge, and Ho-hoe Park, former town mayor of Kimhwa who gave an evidence of the bridge's designer, Myeong-ryeo Kim, didn't know who Seung-il park was. But somehow Captain Park came out of nowhere in the history of the bridge as if someone wanted it that way. Now, one could probably guess what was behind the scene when they changed the name from naturally determined Seung-Il gyo" meaning Seung-man Lee and Il-sung Kim) to Seung-Il gyo meaning Seung-il park) The people who were living around the bridge were transforming their yearning for the reunion into the name of the bridge. They think that by crossing the bridge freely, they can narrower the gap between our separated countries. However, on the other side, some other people, those who have authority, have fixed our reality as it is and antagonism onto the bridge by changing its name.