[photos] Korean War Memorial in Seoul, South Korea

[Blackjack]

I returned Saturday from a one-week visit in Korea. While it was mainly for business, my boss encouraged me to stay a couple extra days to sightsee and visit with my Korean relatives. I caught the subway (very English/other language friendly these days) over to a stop a couple blocks from the Korean War memorial.

I hadn't read anything about it, just had seen it on a map my hotel provided. It turned out to be very much a military history/hardware aficionado's dream, with so much Korean War-era and later equipment, vehicles and planes, I was overwhelmed. I went late in the day (I reached it after 6 p.m.), so I didn't get to visit the exhibit hall.

The vehicles/weapons include a lot of North Korean/Chinese/Russian stuff, and the statues are a little different than what I'm used to seeing, representing both South Koreans (ROK forces) and North Koreans. You can tell there's still this (however faint) hope of a peaceful national reunification.

I took tons of photos and movies, so I thought I'd share a few things here. This post has the more boring stuff but lays out what's in there a bit.  



I entered the memorial about where that little red splash is on the map there. I walked basically counter-clockwise from there, as all the cool military equipment/vehicles/weaponry is along that -- it's very "dense" with stuff, I'd say. 

[Blackjack]

The statues are very interesting. With the theme really being one of brotherhood rather than war.



The first one you see is this, called "The Statue of Two Brothers" (a South Korean soldier holding a wounded North Korean soldier). The theme being (as I understand it) that the war really did break apart many families on the peninsula.



The next one is the main Korean War Monument. I didn't walk down the stairs there, so I'm not quite clear if there's something significant to see down there.



I didn't quite "understand" this memorial until I looked at from a few angles. One group at left represents ROK (South Korean) forces, all branches, and the other is a group of North Korean forces.



You can pick out famous weapons in close ups. If the monument isn't quite as iconic as say, the Iwo Jima memorial, I think it's cause it's just a lot to try to take in visually. From afar, there's almost too much going on. Close in, I found it more moving.
And some closeups...

[Blackjack]

Now the fun stuff.   Planes, planes and more planes used by both sides, including iconic U.S. WWII planes still used effectively in the 1950-1953 conflict, and planes used in the decades since then as well (the Memorial isn't just bout stuff from that era). I gather the engines and innards have been removed, so there was no chance of me taking a joyride.  


The famous F-86 Sabre, sporting six .50 cals...


The radar-equipped F-86D Sabre. I think this version sported a large tray of missiles under it in lieu of machine gun/cannon armament.


The infamous Mig-15, with a more recent F4C-Phantom behind it.


The F-51 (Air Force changed to the "F" naming system post WWII, if I recall) served well as a ground attack and recon plane in the war. The sign indicates it flew almost 9,000 sorties during it.


The mighty B-52. Walking under that thing was ominous. I kept wondering if I was supposed to be allowed to walk under it.  

And on the more recent side...


F4C Phantom, still something to ogle in person.  

[Blackjack]

And tanks, tanks and more tanks...





The iconic Sherman tank, I think with an upgraded gun vs. the WWII era Shermans.



The Russian-made T-34 (I think)

And some APCs...

[jersoc]

jealous. I want to hit up korea in a few years. I've actually been studying the language for about 6 months too. Not too hard, but I suck at memorizing words lol.

Any other random pictures?

[Blackjack]

There's an entire section devoted to helicopters too...


I believe this is a Bell one, and most folks recognize it from the M*A*S*H movie and TV shows (w/ stretcher attachments).


I remember this Sikorsky (I think?) from the William Holden film, "The Bridges Over To-Ko-Ri," when an aircraft carrier's rescue team attempts to save him (with F4U Corsairs providing ground attack support against incoming North Korean and Chinese troops) when his Panther fighter bomber is downed during a ground attack run.



They also have a couple more modern choppers like the Cobra gunship.


And the Huey, not often seen in blue, I imagine.

[Freezer-TPF-]

Great photos, thanks.

[Gryndyl]

I've been there too Did you go into the museum at all? Huge Korean War exhibit in there as well as exhibits covering the entire history of war in Korea, dating clear back to stone knives.

[Blackjack]

I've been there too Did you go into the museum at all? Huge Korean War exhibit in there as well as exhibits covering the entire history of war in Korea, dating clear back to stone knives.

No, but it gives me another reason to go back if I return to Korea some time.   I didn't get out there until pretty late (it was maybe 6-6:30), and it seemed like the main hall was closed. I also missed the chance for the little tour of the South Korean gunboat replica (from a ship in a 2002 incident) which is only at certain hours of the day.

It was spur of the moment. Monday-Wednesday was glutted with a conference and cocktail party stuff. Thursday morning I walked up to Namsan Park, but had to do an interview in the hotel lounge in the afternoon. I was wiped out, but after some rest I felt like "Crap! I'm only here one more day really, DO something!"   So I saw the memorial marked on the Hilton's fold out map, and just made up my mind to ride the subway a couple stops there. I think the stop is called "Samgachki" or something; I think I could've gotten to an exit or stop closer to the memorial on a different subway line.

I just brought my main digital camera, my iPod Touch and a half bottle of water. I found myself wishing I'd brought a snack.   They do have several vending machines.

The subway is now very English language (actually, multiple language, in terms of the fare card machines) friendly in terms of signs, audio messages on the trains, and voice prompts on the touchscreen fare card machines. It's still a bit intimidating in terms of the sheer # of stops in Seoul, and sometimes the number of exits at each station can be a bit confusing to a newbie. There's locator maps on the walls near the exits, I just found that each was sort of rotated differently than the next one, and I'd get disoriented.

My Korean uncle helped me get a very useful English-langage fold-out subway map late Friday, and I think I'll feel a lot more confident about going to all sorts of places next time I visit. While I'm used to doing most sightseeing with family/friends, the War Memorial was the kind of thing I was glad to see solo and just take my time going through it.

While they discourage you from going "up" things (don't climb on top of the Sherman, etc.) I didn't see any "don't touch" signs, and there are not a lot of guards there at the hour I was there. You could go up and touch tanks and planes and stuff and not feel like some museum police squad was going to pound on you.   So it's kind of a different feel than seeing planes/vehicles inside at Smithsonian type facilities where it's more "look, don't touch."

I've considered going to Texas to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War (http://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/index.asp) some day. I might have to buckle down and do that some day. Life is short.