Korean War Museum

So these pictures have been sitting in my draft box since November and I thought I had better post it right quick before we actually leave Korea and everyone starts thinking I'll stop talking about Korea. (Ha, I say! Ha!)

These are pictures from the Korean War Museum, which is right next to the base here in Seoul. It's an impressively large museum that covers the history of warfare in Korea but, of course, the most interesting sections are those that deal with the Korean war, which celebrated its 60 anniversary in 2010.


The outside has a large open courtyard/pavillion where ROK soldiers and color guard sometimes do drills.


There are many statues....



(Which remind me a lot of the statues at Mao's mausoleum in Tienanmen Square.)


This one is called "Brothers." It shows a rift in the earth, representing the split between North and South and two brothers (the North and South) being reunited. The Korean war, and the continued separation of North and South Korea, is incredibly sad. I have a hard time remembering, sometimes, that Seoul was a pile of rubble only 60 years ago and that they've completely re-built their country and economy in such a short period of time. It's even more disheartening to read stories of life in North Korea or watch documentaries of the Kim's oppressive regime and not wish there was so much more we could do. But I do believe that I will live to see the fall of North Korea.

Outside the museum are several airplanes, tanks, and ships which have been used by Korea, mostly during the Korean war.

There are a few inside too. (Huge museum, right?)



We visited one of their special exhibitions on the DMZ. This was a collage of photographs taken of North Korea.



Here are some North Korean soldiers standing guard at the DMZ. I wonder how much they understand about the outside world and if they want to flee their country?



Or if they are just so indoctrinated that they truly believe they are better off in the North.

This is a sculpture made entirely of the dog tags worn by men who fought in the Korean War. A tear drop for all the men who died.

Maybe, if I get really ambitious, I'll do a post about some of the books and documentaries I'd recommend about North Korea. But really, you should just go read 1984 and you'll get the idea.