Seodaemun Prison (서대문형무소) - Spectral Codex
Spectral Codex
서대문형무소

Locations
Seodaemun prison gate.
Seodaemun prison gate.

Seodaemun Prison is not a happy place but my visit there was certainly an educational experience. It housed thousands of political prisoners over the course of most of the 20th century—many of whom lost their lives here, either through neglect, overwork (it was also a forced labour camp), or by way of the “body removal tunnel”. A memorial to many of Seodaemun’s victims can be seen in the photos below.

Inside the memorial chamber.
Inside the memorial chamber.
Victims of imperial aspiration.
Victims of imperial aspiration.
Seodaemun prison cells.
Seodaemun prison cells.
Seodaemun prison cell door.
Seodaemun prison cell door.
Stalking the cell block.
Stalking the cell block.
Seodamun prison grounds.
Seodamun prison grounds.
Bricks imprinted with the glyph of another forced labour camp.
Bricks imprinted with the glyph of another forced labour camp.
Outside the execution chamber.
Outside the execution chamber.

Read more about my experiences at Seodaemun prison in the dark side of Seoul.

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Series: South Korea 2012

A complete travelogue from one unplanned week in Seoul, South Korea. These stories are evenly divided between lengthy photo essays and brief photo galleries and are arranged in rough chronological order.

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Author

Profile photo of Alexander Synaptic, founder of Spectral Codex
Alexander Synaptic
Curator, Spectral Codex

I am a web application developer, photojournalist, urban explorer, and history enthusiast passionate about the open web and documenting my experiences on this planet. This project was founded in the early 2010s and has evolved into a sort of personal Wikipedia of places that interest me (and often the photographs I’ve taken there). I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, but spend most of my time residing in Taiwan.