War Memorial of Korea

Last Saturday we drove (do not drive!) up to Seoul to visit the War Memorial of Korea. Admission is always free. There are displays on several different time periods. It seems like Korea has been at war pretty much all of its existence.

Here we are goofing off, seeing what a typical rucksack weighed during the Korean War. It's on bungee cords, so the kids didn't feel the full weight of it. I think the rucks they make you pack and ruck march with when I went through basic training were heavier. Definitely bulkier!

 This is a neat display in the Korean War area. It had pictures of different soldiers shaped like id tags. It was very disheartening to see the number of people who died during those 3 years.

Outside, there are several planes, tanks, vehicles and a boat to look at. Some you can even enter in to. If you walk back towards the back of the museum (outside) there is a playground for the kids to climb on. There is a children's museum, but it was not scheduled to open until Dec 3rd. We will definitely make another trip up there, most likely with a group of other homeschoolers. I love to facilitate trips:)

This guy had lots of bullet holes. No wonder it is raised out of the water!

The memorial has 3 floors of displays to look at. There is a lot of history to be learned! Our kids are young and don't really grasp what all this memorial is about. They just wanted to run around and climb on things. Needless to say, we did not spend as much time inside as we (the adults) would have liked, but there is always another day to come visit it...and it's free!

This is a display about the Suwon Fortress (at least I'm pretty sure it's the Suwon Fortess...which you can actually go and tour the actual thing too...another field trip to be planned).

We enjoyed our day trip to the War Memorial of Korea. It was a nice place to spend on a cold, dreary Saturday. Reaching it is rather easy. It is right outside of the Yongsan military base. It is just west of Itaewon and east of Yongsan station. If you take the subway and get off at Samgakji station, it is right outside door 12. I will post a review of the children's museum when we visit it in December.