A visit to Korea’s DMZ: Fast food, a pirate ship – and a bit of hope

The Super Viking pirate ship surprised me. So did the Popeyes fried chicken, the soldier mannequins, and the DMZ action flick.

I had imagined that a trip to the Demilitarized Zone, the 155-mile-long barrier dividing South and North Korea, would provide only barbed-wire views and a grim perspective on the cruelties of war. The reality instead could have been titled “Universal Studios Presents: The DMZ!” And I visited a month before last week’s geopolitical fever dream that saw a sitting U.S. president set foot in North Korea for the first time.

In truth, the meeting between President Donald Trump and North