Scars
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2006
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17
27
Trip End
Oct 25, 2007
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Seodaemun Prison was built in 1912 in the downtown Seoul area. It was a place of extreme secrecy, where information on the goings on inside the walls rarely reached the outside. It served as a home to those Koreans involved in the Anti-Japanese Independance Movement, an organisation who battled the Japanese constantly during the occupation
Seodaemun 1
. It was aharsh life to say the least for detainees. Overcrowding, average food, regular beatings, torture and execution were responsible for numerous deaths.When the Japanese packed their bags and left Korea in 1945, the prison was used as a detention centre until 1987, when a detention centre was built outside Seoul. The prison was then converted into Independance Park, and to this day serves as a memorial to those who gave their lives in the battle for Korean independance.
Three prison buildings, including the Execution building, have been preserved, along with the building used by the Japanese security unit, the wall of the prison and the watchtower. Also preserved is the spot where Korean fighter Yu Gwan-san, considered by locals to be Korea's Joan of Arc, was killed. The site also contains the enormous granite Seodaemun Independance Gate.
Walking through the prison buildings reminded me of my visits to prisons at Aushwitz and Salaspils. Cold, red brick buildings with tiny windows, and inside them cramped, uncomfortable cells. The similarities were eery. Until I came to the torture and execution rooms that is. These rooms had a slightly more 'Korean' spin. Instead if being left cold and empty, they have been fitted out with life size, interactive displays and various dioramas. You can sit on the same chair a prisonner would have sat on before he was hanged - and when you sit down it rocks as if being kicked out from underneath you. You can also watch a moving model show, complete with blood curdling screams, of a Japanese interrogation session, and for some reason, alot of the Japanese manequins had been decorated with 'Hitler' moustaches
Seodaemun 10
. Another positive aspect of the prison is that, due to its close proximity to many enormous apartment buildings, the park surrounding the prison has become a place for local families to come to relax and enjoy themselves. By the time Korea was liberated by Allied forces in 1945, the Japanese had inflicted permanent damage on the Korean people - or so they'd thought. The day of my visit coincided with the Seodaemun Book Festival, and it's a tribute to the strength and character of these people that a place like Seodaemun Prison can be converted from a place of sadness and death into a place of happiness and frivolity. Brilliant.
To this weeks 'Pointless Korean Fact' - everyone knows that Japan is known as 'the land of the rising sun', but did you know that Korea is 'the land of morning calm'? You do now.
