The Korean War Memorial 전쟁기념관

A friend of mine who has always liked War Memorials invited me to visit the one in Seoul with her.  It turned out to be my absolute favourite touristy thing that I did while living in Korea.

As with all places like this, the grounds of the museum offer a very peaceful place to reflect upon the atrocities that took place in history.  Unlike many other war memorials, this one is located right in the middle of Seoul, which meant that there wasn’t a great deal of space, but it was still sufficient enough to display a very moving collection of monuments created in memory of the war.

At the entrance of the open air museum, you are first met with The Statue of Brothers.  The statue depicts an older South Korean brother and a younger North Korean brother who meet on the battlefield.  When I read the description, I was so deeply moved by this symbolism of the situation between the two Koreas.    

Inside the statue of brothers was a display dedicated to different countries that helped out during the war.

The outdoor open air museum was so impressive that we must have spent a good hour just wandering around looking at everything in detail before finally moving inside.

 

The outdoor open air museum was so impressive that we must have spent a good hour just wandering around looking at all the tanks, missiles, memorials, and everything else in detail before finally moving inside.

Once inside, the museum’s display of war artifacts reached much further than the Korean War.  There was information about many historical battles, information on the Turtle Ship (an advanced warship that was used during the Joseon era), more tanks, as well as replicas of the soldier’s living conditions.  It was very informative, but quite overwhelming at the same time.   

Because of the wonderful experience I had at the Korean War Memorial, I decided to also visit the (much smaller) Korean War Memorial in Munsan.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, as on the one hand, Munsan is a very small little district within Paju. However, Munsan is one of the closest districts to the border.  This memorial turned out to be a fully outdoor open air museum.  Most of the descriptions were only in Korean, so I wasn’t able to understand the significance of a lot of them. 

Similar to the memorial in Seoul, there was also a statue of soldiers.  This one is called The Tower for the Ten Human Bombs, and was built and dedicated to the ten soldiers for their military spirit, who sacrificed themselves for their country.

All in all, the Memorial in Seoul has a much larger collection, but the Memorial in Munsan also made for a nice afternoon of walking around and learning about the war.