War Memorial Seoul Korea

I decided to take my vacation in Seoul instead of some other country this time around for a couple of reasons. I have been in Korea for almost six months and haven't seen a lot of the country, and reason two is that it needed to be a somewhat budget trip as I had paid for my sister's ticket over here as a graduation gift. But Seoul didn't disappoint. As you'll see in the next few posts, we had a grand time. But I'm starting with the War Memorial mostly because it was one of my favorite spots we visited and my Dad will go nuts over the pictures and hopefully share with his veteran friends. Here you go VA peeps!

My sister and I went to the DMZ (another post) and got back into Seoul around 7pm. I had seen the memorial from a distance and knew it was in the area so instead of getting on the subway to go back home we decided to check out the memorial under the light of the full moon. We were not disappointed. You can blame it on our upbringing as veteran's children or the lull of the moon or what have you, but our small glimpse that night made us decide to skip a palace that we planned on seeing the next day and visit the memorial and attached museum instead. As my sister and I walked around this massive memorial we kept saying, "Dad would love this! I wish he was here!"

Also, while I was there, I was struck with several thoughts. The most prominent thought was that I was ashamed that I didn't know more about the Korean War. In the States, we refer to the Korean War as the Forgotten War and those that served are also forgotten. I don't really remember studying about it in school and all that I knew was NK was cra-cra. It is ironic because the NK's hold onto this war so tightly, blaming anyone but themselves for it's cause, and they raise their children with the "history" of how the south are traitors and Americans are imperialists because we tried to invade them once. Of course this means will do it again...? Ask an American child or even teenager and they probably have no idea about the Korean War. The importance placed on this event in these countries is drastically different. 

WARNING!!! PICTURE OVERLOAD AHEAD!

If you have the opportunity, go. Seriously. It's massive. It's free. It's a really cool way to spend a couple of hours diving into Korea's history and story of it's people. 

Directions: Take subway line 4 or 6. Samgakji Station Exit 12. Walk straight out of the exit for literally 30 seconds and it's on your right. When you enter the museum it looks as if you have to pay. You don't. Just walk in and tour. Also, bypass the gift shop. It sucks.

To all the veterans of the Korean War in the States, you are not forgotten here.