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‘Lord Commander’ of the DMZ has seen it all on the Korean frontier

Lt. Cmdr. D.E. McShane, former joint duty officer in Panmunjom, after guitar lessons with wounded veterans at Camp Humphreys, in the Demilitarized Zone of the Korean Peninsula, on April 13. McShane, now retired, served for a record eight years in the position. | WOOHAE CHO / THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Choe Sang-Hun
THE NEW YORK TIMES

Apr 30, 2023

Lt. Cmdr. D.E. McShane was holding his plane ticket home to begin his retirement in 2019 when President Donald Trump announced that he would be flying to the border between the two Koreas to meet Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea.

Dan-o McShane, as the former U.S. Navy officer is known, had been stationed in the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, between North and South Korea for six years. Like the rest of the world, he learned of Trump’s plans to meet Kim in the DMZ on Twitter — only a day before the meeting was to take place.

Suddenly, the lieutenant commander was thrust into making frantic preparations, his retirement plans scuppered.

‘Lord Commander’ of the DMZ has seen it all on the Korean frontier

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