Sunday, June 25, 2006
Seodaemun Prison
First I should comment on how most Koreans have a seemingly irrational and unjustified hatred for Japan. My kids all hate Japan but when I ask them why, they never have an answer. It seems they are taught from a young age to hate the Japanese but don't really know why. This prison tour was supposed to help us foreigners understand why.
This prison is over 100 years old as was used by the Japanese when they invaded Korea to hold, torture, and execute Korean rebels. When we got there, we were lucky enough to find a volunteer tour guide who showed us around. This was key to helping us understand where this hatred came from because most of the exhibits were in Korean and we would have missed out on most of the commentary. The entire place is full of pictures, documents and artifacts from the occupation and with the tour guides help, we really got a solid view of why Koreans hate Japan so much. There was a huge push by Japan to wipe out the Korean culture of the day. The Korean royal family was killed, many of their temples and cultural icons were destroyed, and anyone who didn't conform was tortured and killed.
When our tour started we had a very bleak view of the Japanese of the time and being in the torture rooms with the animatronic wax figures didn't help. They had scenes set up with moving manicans with sound effects depicting how the Korean women and men were raped and tortured. It was a very potent show except for the evil, maniacal laughs that the Japanese figures had. Apparently many Koreans took this tour and were very angered by this because the walls were all covered with Hangul and English swearing and calling the Japanese names. Stuff like 'Japanese are baby dog eaters' and such. At this point in the tour a Japanese woman joined us and the tour took a totally different tone. It seems that this prison is a very touchy subject with the Japanese as well and our Korean tour guide didn't want to offend. This showed me some of the awkward tension that still exists between Korea and Japan.
We got to see the cells and torture chambers and we even got to see the execution chamber where people were hung. Apparenly even after the occupation, the chamber was still used up until 1987, a year before the Olympics were held. It was a very interesting trip and helped me understand where the tension comes from between Korea and Japan.
First I should comment on how most Koreans have a seemingly irrational and unjustified hatred for Japan. My kids all hate Japan but when I ask them why, they never have an answer. It seems they are taught from a young age to hate the Japanese but don't really know why. This prison tour was supposed to help us foreigners understand why.
This prison is over 100 years old as was used by the Japanese when they invaded Korea to hold, torture, and execute Korean rebels. When we got there, we were lucky enough to find a volunteer tour guide who showed us around. This was key to helping us understand where this hatred came from because most of the exhibits were in Korean and we would have missed out on most of the commentary. The entire place is full of pictures, documents and artifacts from the occupation and with the tour guides help, we really got a solid view of why Koreans hate Japan so much. There was a huge push by Japan to wipe out the Korean culture of the day. The Korean royal family was killed, many of their temples and cultural icons were destroyed, and anyone who didn't conform was tortured and killed.
When our tour started we had a very bleak view of the Japanese of the time and being in the torture rooms with the animatronic wax figures didn't help. They had scenes set up with moving manicans with sound effects depicting how the Korean women and men were raped and tortured. It was a very potent show except for the evil, maniacal laughs that the Japanese figures had. Apparently many Koreans took this tour and were very angered by this because the walls were all covered with Hangul and English swearing and calling the Japanese names. Stuff like 'Japanese are baby dog eaters' and such. At this point in the tour a Japanese woman joined us and the tour took a totally different tone. It seems that this prison is a very touchy subject with the Japanese as well and our Korean tour guide didn't want to offend. This showed me some of the awkward tension that still exists between Korea and Japan.
We got to see the cells and torture chambers and we even got to see the execution chamber where people were hung. Apparenly even after the occupation, the chamber was still used up until 1987, a year before the Olympics were held. It was a very interesting trip and helped me understand where the tension comes from between Korea and Japan.
