from malaysia to korea with love: Seodaemun Prison

Seodaemun Prison

Have you ever heard about the Seodaemun Prison? Foreign tourist or other people might be unfamiliar with the Seodaemun prison, but not the Korean themselves. For those who do not have any background of Korean history, might not know that South Korea has been invaded by the Japanese before. Believe or not, behind this advanced and successful country, South Korea has faced a dark era which is during the Japanese colonization. During this colonization, Korean citizen has been under strict control by the Japanese. Their country, people and land resources have been totally monopolized by the Japanese, not to mentioned the amount of tears and bloodshed during this era. It was beyond words to describe. Because of this, there were many nameless patriots that have sacrificed themselves to achieve independence for their beloved country, South Korea. On the 1st March 1919, the patriot started the independence movement in which they gather all the people for the demonstration act to fight against the dictatorship power of Japanese and to free South Korea from the miserable life under them. As a result of this action, all of the Patriots and people involved in this demonstration has been arrested and locked up in the Seodaemun prison. Seodaemun prison is the place that has been designed by the Japanese to place all of these protestors.

This prison has been a living hell for all of the Patriots, the Japanese got 1001 ways to tortured all of them in order to acquire the information about who is responsible to the strike and spread the independent spirit to all over the nation. They even execute the patriot that they believe will cause harm to them and the nation. They were scared that the Korean people will rise up and go against them. My most favorite patriot is Yu Gwan Sun (유관순), she has shown that age and gender is not a barrier when it comes to fighting for your own country right and independence. She is the one who distributes the handmade "Taegukgi" (태극기) a Korean flag and ignited the protest starting from Cheonan, her own hometown. Her parents have been killed in front of her eyes and she has been captured and sent away to Seodaemun prison. She organizes a demonstration with other inmates of Seodaemun prison to celebrate the anniversary of the movement by shouting "대한 독립 만세" which means "Long Live Korean Independence" or "Hooray for the Independence". As a consequence, she has been placed in solitary confinement at the solitude basement cell of Seodaemun. There she has been brutally tortured and after a few months she passed away as a result of the tortured. Nowadays, during the independence movement celebration, you will see her as an icon which symbolizes the true spirit of an independent.

When I entered the Seodaemun prison I felt the sorrow, coldness and grieve which faced by the Patriots. The emptiness of the cell hall gives a catastrophe feeling of the Patriots which we could imagine throughout walking in the corridors of the prison. The small room, surrounded by white wall and thick wooden with metals bar door has separated them not only from the freedom but also from their loved one; but they sacrificed all of that because of their sense of responsibilities towards the freedom of their beloved country and the future of the young generations. They are truly a hero that is really brave to make changes even though they know that their opponent is much more powerful; for those reasons, the Japanese felt intimidated and scared of the independent spirit that Korean people shows to them. That is why they capture and locked them up.

There is an execution building where in front of this building you can see a tree planted near to the building compound, they said patriot that been dragged to this building for execution will grab on to this tree and wailed with deep resentment; that is why this tree is called as "Wailing poplar", by only standing near the tree already gives me a chilled feeling and cold shiver. The basement jail cell will lead you to all the torturing method which were used by the Japanese towards the patriot and you can even try out some of the torturing devices that they have replicated such as narrow room torture and spiked box. In the narrow room torture, you will feel how stuffy and hard it is to even stand up properly and usually the patriot or protestor will be kept in this room up to 24hour. I just can not imagine how brutally they been treated, this unthinkable torture that been strike by Japanese toward Korean patriot is really cruel including the cutting of body part, skin peeling and rupturing of the internal organs. What can I say is they are really sadistic as they can enjoy inflicting the pain of other people.

I hope that other people would found this place to be interesting as much as I do, being here have changed me as I feel more patriotic even though South Korea is not my country. This visit has made me realized that we need to love and willing to sacrifice for our own country so that the new generations would cherish their life. History is important just like saying from Edmund Burke "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it", learning history starting from a young age is really encourageable, and South Korea have shown me this since I saw a lot of parents bring their kids to many historical places including Seodaemun Prison. Even the School in South Korea have made history subject more interesting by taking their student for a field trip that includes quizzes in which they can find the answer directly. This is how they educate the young one on showing them how their late grandparents sacrificed for their own sake.

Seodaemun prison may not be South Korea that you have imagined, but this place holds 1001 history and pain. By visiting here you will not only become more aware of the history of South Korea but also your own country history. Peace in the name of love 💕