THE WAR MEMORIAL OF KOREA

SEOUL, REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Completed in 1993 to display the military history of Korea, the War Memorial has six exhibition halls in its 20,000 square metres. Although the Memorial covers military history before and since the Korean War, that conflict is the mainstay of the exhibition.

Many of the displays of vehicles and equipment are from the war (including North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s limousine). The exhibitions are centred on the resistance to and liberation of the Republic of Korea by the invasion from the North by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The halls are very rich in all manner of displays – the heavy equipment is such that any museum would be proud of, but the museum also includes smaller displays, such as the flag of the Korean students studying in Japan when the war broke out who then landed at Inchon and fought, or General Macarthur’s corn cob pipe.

Unsurprisingly, there is a focus on the ROK forces during the war, and the role of the UN is downplayed while the intervention of the PRC is emphasised.

Open Tuesday-sunday 9am-6pm, closed every Monday. Admission is free.

The outdoor exhibition area of the museum showing equipment from various periods