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After countless palaces and temples in S Korea, Japan, and Thailand, I wanted to see something different. After some research, I found Seodaemun Prison. This historical location was built during the Japanese occupation to control Korean activists. My research also suggested against younger visitors as it holds some gruesome reenactments of what happened during 1908-1945.
I was meeting three friends in different areas of Incheon and Korea, so we had a few stops along the way. As a tip for anyone living in Incheon and wanting to get to Seoul quickly using the subway, get yourself to Bupyeong. From Bupyeong, you can grab an EXPRESS BUS to Yongsan. You go up to the Yongsan tracks and choose the side that has the electronic sign reading 급헹 (Express) 용산 (Yongsan). From Yongsan, we made a few transfers and finally finished on Line 3, Dongnimmun, Exit #5 for Seodaemun Prison where we met our last friend.
Kimchi Jjim
We decided to eat first. Unlike most subway exits, Dongnimmun didn't have any appealing restaurants. So, I went into the nearby convenient store and asked the gentlemen behind the counter for a recommendation. They suggested a
Kimchi Jjim restaurant. I wasn't sure what
that was, but my friends were down, so we began walking towards the direction of Namsan Tower (you should be able to see it if the sky is clear).
As we walked down, we passed a pretty park with a historical gate that looked more Western than Eastern. I later found that this Independence Gate was constructed by a Swiss engineer. The arch symbolizes the point where Chinese envoys used to arrive and receive yearly payments from Koreans (
Independence Gate). I couldn't help but imagine a modern variation of gangs in black suits extorting "protection" money from shop owners.
We walked up, crossed the two-part crosswalk and passed a small farmer's market. Seeing the various alleyways and streets, we were worried about missing the restaurant, so we stopped at a random alley-bookstore where I asked the woman-in-charge if she knew of the restaurant. She did and told us to keep going.
Now, it's a very good sign if people know the restaurant you are talking about. This may be true in many countries, but I find the impact more severe in Korea. All business in Korea succeeds on word-of-mouth. This is a word-of-mouth culture. Whether it is fact
or gossip, words can make or break businesses.
We walked further, took a right after Hana Bank and saw a Coffee Bean. The restaurant was supposed to be around there, but we couldn't find it. I asked a barista from Coffee Bean and she walked out with me and pointed left (parallel to the street we had come up). We found the
hanok (traditional Korean home) and stepped in.
Their main dishes were
kimchi jjim (which were long slices of steamed kimchi with cooked pork) and
kimchi guk (which was pretty much the same flavor inside of a soup with ramen noodles). I was skeptical when they handed us the ramen because it was in a package that you can buy for cheap in any convenient store. But, it was all very good.
Unfortunately, one of my friends doesn't eat pork, so I asked them to give us another kimchi jjim with no pork, nothing even cooked next to pork. I exaggerated and said that my friend would suffer allergies and become deathly ill if she even tasted pork. Stay wise, because many Koreans do eat meat even if they're "vegetarians."
The few easy-to-buy dishes that
don't contain meat are
yah chae kimbab (rice & vegetables wrapped in seaweed like sushi) or
bibimbab (mixed rice and veggies) and ask for no beef. Back to the meal, if it says anything, we forgot to take any pictures of the food until after we had scarfed everything down and our plates no longer looked appealing to the eye.
A few months later, I was speaking with a Korean friend, and he was recommending the best kimchi jjim restaurant in Seoul. Ended up being the same one!
Heading in the direction of the prison, we decided to walk through the Farmer's Market. The smells were intense--a combination of fresh sugary rice cakes, raw octopus, a cow being butchered in the front of a shop, and other smells I couldn't identify--and a bit overwhelming. We bought some miniature seedless grapes (size = tip of your pinkie). You're not supposed to eat the skin. You just push the pulp out and, despite its size, it is very sweet and delicious!
Dongnimmun Park
We strolled through Dongnimmun Park where a black fountain lay still with stagnant water. A young girl in roller blades rode into the fountain, placed her
hands in the water and washed her face. I'm not sure how clean she was afterward, but it was interesting to watch.
I wanted to check out the memorial we spotted on the large park directory. We walked to the left of the prison and saw a stone tower with dark green murals at the bottom. The design was similar to the memorial I had seen in Daejeon at the War Memorial Cemetary.
Without realizing what was sculpted onto the murals, my friends and I were laughing and jumping and taking photographs. It was only afterward that we read the description and looked closer. The murals depicted grotesque hangings, beatings, and other forms of torture. It also showed the activists holding the Korean flag in protest. We were shocked to see such images in a public park.
Making our way around so we could go into the prison, I thought, it looks an awful lot like a school (I said the same thing to an acquaintance who visited Japan last month. He took a picture of a school there; it looked a lot like a renovated prison). My friend commented that perhaps it had to do with
Happy Terrorists
Before the age of realistic computer graphicsthe regimented society.
A bright green field of grass lay outside the prison. There were at least 3-4 groups of school children wearing uniform colors. I wonder if they were on field-trips for the prison.
Like I mentioned, the research I found warned against bringing young children because of the gruesome nature of what lies within the prison, but with all the kids I suspected the warning had been exaggerated. We paid 2,000W for our tickets and entered the grounds.
Seodaemun Prison
The first part of the prison seemed harmless enough. We walked through while giggling and making light of the environment. There were photos of little kids reenacting cop and prisoner, which seemed harmless enough.
However, as we continued on, what we saw grew progressively worse. In fact, I had a hard time with some of the wax reenactments. I've only posted one that wasn't as gruesome as others (including sexual torture). They also had wall coffins and various forms of torture that had been used on the activists. It definitely gives an impact.
I find it interesting that even after the Japanese occupation, the prison was used by Korea. Of course, there is
no mention if treatment was changed. Being half-Korean, I have grown up with Korean friends and acquaintances who are on opposing sides of the table. There are those who are still very hateful towards the Japanese, and others who realize that such a hatred tends to create a vicious-cycle in this day and age.
I guess it's difficult to let go of such a tragic history. We can look at the Holocaust, Native Americans in the US, Aboriginals in Australia, or slavery in various parts of the world and how the victims and their offspring often continue the bitter legacy of revenge, hatred, and prejudice with the aim of recovering justice. The emotions are legitimate and understandable, but the hatred just begins another cycle of angst for the future, doesn't it? I can't hold my Japanese friends responsible for what happened generations before they were born. Anyway, I'm ranting off.
While walking through the prison, we were very surprised at some of the young children, around 5-10 years old, who were allowed to walk through. I had to ask myself, "Is it better to educate them young and graphically about the horrors or is it better to protect
them from such atrocities until they're older?"
I wonder what this type of education breeds. Is it a greater enlightenment? Does the next generation learn from the atrocities? Or is it a breeding ground that sparks more ethnic hatred? I'm not sure.
We walked out to the house where many executions were performed. Out the back was the tunnel where bodies were carried out.
Finally, there was a strange photo of an abstract building that looked like it could serve no purpose. It was labeled, "Prisoner's Playground." I found the geometrical restriction of space the most disturbing of all the images I had seen that day. Despite its lack of blood or gore, it was psychologically claustrophobic. Imagine being inside a maze-like construction that is a predictable dead-end regardless of what path you choose.
Who's Superior? Korea or Japan?
I love my Japanese friends as much as my Korean friends. It all depends on the individual's character. I'm disappointed when I hear about tension on either side unless it's something like sports (which I think is a healthy arena to compete and root for one's country).
From the racism that is still confronted in Japan
by Koreans who have decided to reside there (the type of discrimination that on a grander scale would lead to an Orientalized Nazi-ism?), to my few Korean friends who say they "hate" all Japanese people because of the past. I reply, "You're not in the occupation, just as the new generation of Japanese aren't part of a military regime running an occupation in Korea."
Despite my distance from the history (stories passed down from my grandparents and other Koreans) and the chagrin I feel when I meditate on the subject, I don't feel any animosity toward the Japanese. In fact, if I have any animosity, it is toward North Korea's dictator. Even then, does that emotion resolve anything?
I apologize if this entry is darker than the usual. I recommend Seodaemun as a unique experience of a dark-chapter in Korean history just as I would recommend the Holocaust Museum once-in-a-lifetime. I do think it is educational and they serve as reminders of what humans have done and still do today. The darker reality of life.
Still, on the positive side...I think that younger generations of Koreans and Japanese are becoming more open-minded and worldly as technology and
communications increase. And with the massive influx of foreigners in both countries, I think it will be difficult to remain xenophobic. I know that Korea has changed drastically in the small span of a decade when I was last here.
Korean War Memorial Museum and the Nation's Divided Heart
If you're interested in more, I would also suggest the Korean War Memorial Museum. It contains a long history of the Korean military back to turtle ships and arrows and up to modern day jets and technologies.
My favorite monument here is the Statue of Brothers (outside the museum) depicting two brothers united on the battlefield; one representing the South, the other North. They embrace one another on top of the cracked dome in reconciliation and the gesture is so intense it's brought tears to my eyes on both of my visits here.
The older generations that longed for a reunion between the North and South are becoming a dwindling population similar to the diminishing population of Holocaust survivors. I remember when I was younger and visiting Korea, I saw a TV show where people were searching for family members who had been forced into military duty, chosen
Statue of Two Brothers
Not the best photo, it's much grander in real life to go to the Northern side, or gone missing during the Korean War. I think the greatest tragedy was the literal splitting of families across the split nation.
Nowadays, younger generations have a more complicated perspective on a reunited Korea. Similar to West and East Germany, "breaking down the wall" would lead to an economic collapse. I asked a few Koreans how they feel about it and one of the frequent replies was, "I don't want to experience that, but if it happened, we would simply have to work harder." And I think this comment reflects the determination and communal (not communist) identity that is a deep set characteristic of many Koreans.
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I LOVE IT
AS IM RESEACHING SEOUL I STUMBLED ON YOUR WRITINGS AND I MUST SAY IM IMPRESS. I RECENTLY BOUGHT A TICKET TO SEOUL WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING WHERE IT IS (YEA THE TICEKT WAS CHEAP FROM jAPAN SOOO). I DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE TO VISIT BUT YOUR LITTLE STORY JUST STARTED THE LISTS OF PLACES TO VISIT. THANKS