Former Seodaemun Prison, Seoul

In order to step up its invasion of Korea, in 1907 Japan built a modern prison at the foot of Inwangsan Mountain, designed by a Japanese architect. A wooden building of some 560 pyeong (a traditional Korean unit of floor area), able to hold around 500 people, was constructed and named Gyeongseong Prison. Some 500 prisoners were brought here from the prison in Jongno, and until liberation in 1945 this was a place where independence activists were imprisoned, tortured, persecuted, and even put to death. As the number of patriotic figures increased, in 1912 the Japanese colonial authorities built another prison in Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, and called it Gyeongseong Prison, while the original Gyeongseong Prison was renamed Seodaemun Prison. In 1923 Seodaemun Prison was renamed Seodaemun Hyeongmuso (Seodaemun Prison), and by 1944 it held 2,890 inmates. It held girls under 18 years of age, prisoners sentenced to more than ten years, and even those serving life sentences; Kim Ku, Kang Woo-gyu, Yu Gwan-sun and other patriots were imprisoned here, and Yu Gwan-sun lost her life at this place. Immediately after liberation in 1946, it was renamed Gyeongseong Prison and then Seoul Prison, and it held collaborators and pro-Japanese figures. In 1961 it became Seoul Correctional Institution, and in 1967 Seoul Detention Centre; owing to political upheavals such as the April 19 Revolution and the May 16 Military Coup, many prisoners of conscience were held here. It was designated a Historic Site in 1988. Bearing the history of national independence during the Japanese colonial period, and afterwards the story of democratisation and political change, it is a deeply meaningful living history site that awakens in later generations the spirit of national dignity and self-reliance.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seodaemun-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적