Just over a month ago the National Museum of Korean Democracy opened its doors and today I took the opportunity to visit. I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, but I was intrigued that the museum is partly based in the old Namyeong-dong Anti-Communist Interrogation Office, where numerous instances of state-sponsored violence took place during the 1970s and 1980s. It made me wonder how the museum had approached the interpretation of such a difficult past that is still within living memory.
The museum is set over two public buildings, with a third being used for educational purposes. Building M1 is the museum, and it is split over three floors. The ground floor is dedicated to the telling of personal stories, with display cases holding various forms of written works – university declarations, funeral eulogies, a resolution on the Gwangju Uprising, the display of personal correspondence, student diary entries, a confession, personal letters between family members and more. The two basement floors are very spacious and minimalistic, with one dedicated to democracy projects and the other using media and interactive displays to explore different aspects of democracy.
Building M2 is the Anti-Communist Interrogation Office and if you want to enter this part of the museum you must make a reservation either by booking online through the museum website or at the front desk in building M1. The museum displays introduce the events that took place in the building and more generally the context surrounding what happened there. This is done through media, artefacts, pictures, individual stories and records of events leading up to the 1987 democratic uprising. One floor includes what looks like a library area that has many folders sitting on shelves and spaces to sit and read. On closer inspection the folders relate to fabricated cases against the individuals who were unfortunate enough to be taken to the building, and visitors can sit in this area and read through the files. Elsewhere, you can find out about the monitoring of rooms through CCTV, and how different areas of the building were used.
Display spaces on the third and fifth floors give visitors a glimpse of some of the horrifying events that took place in the Anti-Communist Interrogation Office. On the third floor there is a space that comes with an entry warning that children under the age of 13 are not allowed because the contents are related to torture. The display within the room contains media images along with some of the implements used during torture. This is the Special Investigation Room - a room that was finished with materials used to dampen sounds. Evidence, some harrowing in detail, demonstrates that victims were moved to this room and beaten. However, the Special Investigation Room was not the only place where torture took place. The fifth floor had several investigation rooms where prisoners were held and tortured, and museum construction work in 2022 even found hidden microphones in the ceilings of some rooms – which meant that they were being monitored through both video and audio. Particularly poignant is preserved room number 209, which is the place Park Hong-cheol, a Seoul National University student, was tortured and died in January 1987. This incident sparked nationwide commemorations, and shortly afterwards (June 1987) democratic uprisings were widespread.
Seeing and understanding the experiences of those involved in South Korea’s struggles for democracy during the 1980s in terms of personal correspondence, documents and stories was extremely humbling, but I cannot deny that visiting the building where people were held, tortured, and even died, was somewhat unsettling. Despite this, I do believe that it is important to lay out these events for all to understand, despite the uncomfortableness that comes with it. The museum does not shy away from the events that occurred and by telling the personal stories of some of the individuals involved, it honours those who were part of the fight for democracy and, along with the recent democracy project work displayed, highlights the arduous journey taken to reach today’s democratic society along with the importance of sustaining it.