The Korean peninsula has been besieged with war and conflict for centuries. The Japanese Imperialism period lasting officially from 1876 with the Japan-Korea Treaty and ended in 1945 with the conclusion of World Ward II. The Japanese colonialists erected Seodaemun Prison in 1908 as a place to quell the surge of Korean separatists and independence fighters. The buildings that stand there today, along with the ample amount of information provided at almost every corner and accurately-dressed mannequins, serve as an educational, informative, immersive reminder of the human atrocities that occurred in the name of political ambition.
The whole experience evoked a lot of thoughts. It's difficult to describe what thoughts went through my head, but most of the time it was "What the actual fuck". The prison is well laid out and the experience is one that is recommended on my part should you ever have the chance. It sucked me in and showed me a piece of history by which I felt pretty disgusted. Anyway, my time at Sodaemun Prison was personal and I didn't do much data or photographic capturing because I was preoccupied otherwise.
Missing from the photos below: A tall, evergreen tree to which prisoners about to be executed would cling and cry because of their failure to see Korean Independence; the execution house itself; an isolated building which housed lepers; the 'maximum security building' which had a secret underground set of chambers; a hall with its walls covered in the identity cards of inmates; torture chambers; and many many more.
The whole experience evoked a lot of thoughts. It's difficult to describe what thoughts went through my head, but most of the time it was "What the actual fuck". The prison is well laid out and the experience is one that is recommended on my part should you ever have the chance. It sucked me in and showed me a piece of history by which I felt pretty disgusted. Anyway, my time at Sodaemun Prison was personal and I didn't do much data or photographic capturing because I was preoccupied otherwise.
Missing from the photos below: A tall, evergreen tree to which prisoners about to be executed would cling and cry because of their failure to see Korean Independence; the execution house itself; an isolated building which housed lepers; the 'maximum security building' which had a secret underground set of chambers; a hall with its walls covered in the identity cards of inmates; torture chambers; and many many more.
View from the Leper's Building.
Corpse Removal Tunnel adjacent to the execution house.
This was the 'activity yard'. The structure is fan-shaped, but the effect it has on a panoramic photo is somewhat eerie compared to what the structure actually looks like.
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