Issues: Museums and Memorials
Seodaemun Prison History Hall
Even before Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, Korean opposition forces' increasing resistance gave the Japanese government incentives to build a prison that could house those Koreans who opposed their colonization of Korea. Designed by a Japanese architect, the Seodaemun Prison was built in Seoul to accommodate a total of 500 inmates, which was large considering that all other prisons in Korea could hold only 300 inmates in total.
The Prison first opened on October 21, 1908 and, despite numerous name changes and a change of national rulers, continued to serve as a prison under the Korean government until 1987 when prison facilities moved to Uiwang-city, Kyonggi Province.
The district government began a project in 1995 to honor those Koreans who sacrificed their lives in resisting the Japanese and were imprisoned and tortured at Seodaemun Prison. The prison is dedicated to serve as a living history educational site to remind future generations of Koreans.
The Prison Hall is divided into the following rooms for visitors: Information Room, Special Exhibition Room, Material Room (library), National Resistance Room, Prison History Room, In-Prison Life Room, Temporary Detention Room, Torture Room, Underground Cells, Prison Building, Execution Building Corpse Removal Unit, Reverence Monument, and Walls and Watchtowers.
