More Dioramas At The War Memorial Of Korea

It's not always fighting and battles and military maneuvers in the dioramas at the War Memorial of Korea. Ok, war may be the theme and the subject is some sort of corollary of war. Collateral image?

Big meeting. Left to right, general Douglas MacArthur, Korean President Syngman Rhee and U.S. Ambassador John Muccio. "Whose deal is it?"

Treaty signing day. You can tell who has had enough fighting by the amount of hair on their heads.

General MacArthur receiving the UN flag or fighting over a giant kebab stick.

Touching burial. Nancy Humerstone fought to be buried with her officer husband John in a military cemetery. She won. Peacekeeping, sand bagged.

The big, post-war clean up and scavenging. Impressive effort. Fifty years later, an economic juggernaut, Gangnam style.

Dioramas At The War Memorial Of Korea

Dioramas are a great way to illustrate past battles. Graphic, immersive, and no one dies.

Korean forces on a helicopter assault in Vietnam. Not just an American folly.

Taking cover. A U.S. soldier, Mr. Casual with a gun. "I can maim one-handed!"

Bunker life. "When will lunch be finished?"

A Korean soldier, showing that casual U.S. soldier how to put some effort into shooting. Winter warfare, modeling the latest in officer overcoat.

Sometimes the best part of dioramas, the nondescript details. Someone took the time to place this tree.

Heroic Sculpture At The War Memorial of Korea

Realist sculptures are great. Bigger than life, maybe on a pedestal, gesticulating at something. At the War Memorial of Korea there are a few sculptures showing Big Men doing Heroic Things. Just look at the lunging, the flexing, the hugging. Yes, they hug.

Here's the Statue of Brothers. Love in time of battle.

Quick loading a gun while getting your lunges in. Double win! Yelling or about to catch a raisinet.

Serious footwear, boots and spats.

Keeping a brother away from the chow line that's serving bad fish. Sizing up the enemy. Or watching a boring tennis match. 

Lunging for a Mardi Gras throw.

The War Memorial of Korea

Big museum, big events, big history, big equipment. There's no shortage of things to see at the War Memorial of Korea.

Plenty of room in the pool for a full sized Chamsuri class patrol boat. Just don't ask to turn it around.

Hyunmoo I missile, piercing a baby blue sky. A view inside the memorial, re-creating ground and air war.

A wall of memories. Moving.

At an exhibit's beginning, showing the communist drum beating to war. American artillery in action.

The memorial traces Korea's armed forces to the present day. Recruiting through snazzy uniforms.

Memorial sections. A dome with mosaic murals and a detail of the expansive commemorative plaques. James' father, who was from Maryland, served in Korea.

The future meeting the past, school kids touring some deadly toys.

Back To The Leeum Museum In Seoul

There was a visit to the Leeum Museum of Art way back in 2012 and a look at the fine architecture of the place. Thirteen years later and the museum still dazzles.

Funky ship airshafts, Trippy interior staircases. Who needs art when you're walking inside a giant sculpture?

Art exists and is in contrast to the modern building. The collection is mainly artifacts from old dynasties.

Fantastic porcelain and paintings of Really Powerful People.

Back outside, a lovely, bright stabile by Alexander Calder.

Life At Seodaemun Prison

Nothing like dioramas to bring one into an experience. At Seodaemun Prison, there are plenty of re-created moments that illustrate the hard reality of being imprisoned there.

Hauled in, interrogated and a demand for a forced, signed confession.

Waiting for processing. Implements of torture, no shortage of options.

Sitting in solitary.

Prison communication. "Knock twice if you want my green beans."

Life in hell, hot water torture.

Seeing Seoul's Seodaemun Prison

Seodaemun Prison in Seoul was established by the Japanese in 1908 during their colonial period, occupation in Korea. Its main purpose was the imprisonment of Korean independence activists. The complex was converted to a regular prison by Korea after 1945 independence. It was finally closed in 1987 and turned into a museum park in 1992.

The complex is a group of mean looking brick buildings. Straight up Shawshank style.

Inside, the iconic double floor layout with catwalk. Wood doors for solitary cells.

End of the line. The hanging booth in the small execution building.

Gone, never forgotten. Mug shots of activists.

The exercise yards with solitary spaces for prisoners in solitary. Divide and conquer them.