Nearly 61 years ago there was a war in Korea. The newly liberated (from Japan) and divided (by the Soviets and Americans) Korean Peninsula was thrown into turmoil as the Communist North crossed over the 38 parallel in an attempt to surprise and overtake the sleeping South. A few years, a few million lives, and a few destructive power shifts (that literally swept up and down the nation, destroying most everything along the way) later, an armistice was reached and the firing stopped.
It's no secret that hostilities have never faded, but what fewer realize is that the Korean War never ended. No resolution was reached. And, most importantly, no peace treaty was ever signed.
With that in mind, I went today to the War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan, Seoul. In two and a half years of living in this country, that museum is one of the many places that long ago made it onto the 'things I should see' list, but (like so many others) has gotten more and more forgotten as time has passed and life in a foreign country has normalized. But with the finishing of my job (hopefully a little more on that another time) and some extra time on my hands, I headed out to the museum with my friend Ian (a college friend who moved here in November and who's 'newbie' label has generated some motivation for me to start doing interesting things again) to see what I have been missing.
To be fair, I have been to the memorial before and have seen the heart-wrenching artwork that adorns the outside. Sculptures that show despair, torn families, and hope in a way that I've never seen before and still brings a welling of emotion when I see them. It's sad. I've been there before and the effect was the same today. Just this was the first time I've ever gone inside.
As a whole, the museum (particularly the first-floor 'History of War in Korea' display) is as museums go. Lots of old stuff. Rusty arrows and armor. Models of cities and audio-visual displays of turtle ship battles with the Japanese. But it's the top two floors, dedicated to the infamous 6-25 war that really took me. It's not exactly what was on display (the stuff was little different from what I've seen anywhere else), but the issue as a whole. I've been to countless war museums throughout my childhood. But what made this one eerily different is that, unlike all the others I've been two, this war is not a distant memory. As I mentioned before, no resolution was ever made. And the effects of what happened can still be seen every day.
It's really hard to express what I felt while walking through those halls. I was tired, hungry, and cold, for one. But there was something more. This was real.
One the way out, Ian and I were stopped by a few other foreigners who asked us if we were living in Korea and how long we had been here. They arrived two weeks ago and were as eager to sightsee as I once was. When they asked me how new I was, I'm sure they didn't anticipate my response.
'Me?' I replied. 'I've been here for two and a half years...'
(then, looking around) '...but this is my first time here'
Maybe I should have come sooner.
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