Seoul II: Seodaemun Prison History Hall

April 2014

This is one of the places I was looking forward to as I have never been to a prison before. Well, at least to an abandoned prison. History about war sufferings and torture always stir up my interest in them as it is something I have not experienced and my curiosity hence drawn me to Seodaemun Prison. 

The prison hall is easily accessible via the subway.

 Follow this sign once you exit from - Line 3, Dongnimmun Station, exit 5

  

 Rowdy groups of school children visiting the prison hall.

 An adult admission ticket costs 3000 won

 Handcuffs

 Photos of the deceased and the captives in the prison

 Once exiting the indoor exhibition hall, follow the signs to navigate around the prison ground.One of the buildings that was conserved is the execution chamber. It is kept in its original condition where the prisoners to be hanged were executed there in front of seats for people to view the process. There is a passage below for the corpse to be carried out. Sad to say, photography is strictly prohibited with surveillance cameras on. Hence, no photos of it to post.

 

There are important cells where some of the well known Koreans stayed. Exhibits and interactive clips are mainly in Korean so I did not bother to take much interest in them since I could not understand hence, no photos of them as well.

 Empty fields that were once where some of the prison buildings used to be. Only a few prison buildings were restored and rebuilt due to their historical importance.

 Rows of walls that are arranged in a fan shaped structure for the guards to surveillance the inmates when they exercise and prevents them from interacting with each other.

A shrine where there are displays of tablets of the deceased. 

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