Seodaemun Prison

Seodaemun Prison is where the Japanese housed Koreans who fought against the Japanese invasion from 1907 to 1945. Before going to the prison I knew practically nothing about the Japanese invasion and I was shocked by what I learnt.

We were lucky to have a free English speaking guide to show us around. At the museum there are gruesome life sized models in many rooms demonstrating the treatment of the prisoners, some with blood splattered on the walls. Brutal methods of torture were used and many people were tortured to death. When our guide told us we would then experience the torture and told me to sit down on this chair I was convinced I was going to be electrocuted! But then a short video started and I felt rather silly for making such a fuss and repeatedly asking her "is it going to hurt me?"

Sadly it seems the Japanese have still not fully apologised for the attrocities that took place and since a lot of the evidence was burned, many of the names of the people who died at Seodaemun prison and in the rest of Korea, are not known. To this day Korean 'comfort women' (those women who were forced to be sex slaves for the Japanese in WWII) regularly protest outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to demand a formal apology.

Many old Koreans can still speak some Japanese, as throughout the invasion Japanese culture was enforced. People even had to change their name to a Japanese name.

I am going to endeavour to find out more about this shocking Korean history that happened so recently.