War Memorial of Korea; Seoullo 7017

I had a somewhat late lunch at a small restaurant near the National Museum of Korea, where I was this morning. I then took in only two sights for the rest of the afternoon: The War Memorial of Korea and Seoullo 7017.

As I start writing this post, I think it will be rather short. I enjoyed both sights, but I don’t think I have a lot to say about either. When I make that sort of prediction, I often find at the end of it that I was wrong, and it turns out longer than I expected. We’ll see how it goes. Unless, of course, you don’t stick around to read this. In that case, only I’ll see how it goes.

As a consolation for the possible shortness of this entry, I’ll post a couple of short videos for your viewing boredom.

War Memorial of Korea

There’s a large monument in front of the War Memorial of Korea. I couldn’t miss it because it is so huge. However, I didn’t take a close look as I passed it because as soon as I got close to the War Memorial of Korea, I heard what I assumed, correctly, was an outdoor show. So I rushed to see what it was.

The War Memorial of Korea isn’t just a memorial. It’s also a museum.

In front of the museum building, there’s a large, circular courtyard. That’s where the show was. Around the perimeter of the courtyard, flagpoles fly the flags of the nations that sent troops to defend the South in the Korean War, plus what I assume are military flags.

The museum entrance is up a wide set of steps. That’s where most of the people watching the show sat and where the show was primarily directed. But that was at the other side of the courtyard from where I entered. It didn’t look like I could get there without disrupting the show. So I watched from the other side of the courtyard.

I don’t know how long the show had been going on when I got there, but when I arrived, there was staged ritual combat going on with people dressed in old ceremonial costumes and brandishing old weapons. When that ended, a larger group of modern soldiers came on. They did a lot of fancy precision marching and gun twirling.

Rather than try to describe it any further, I’ve posted short video clips I took of portions of each performance. My apologies for the opening of the second clip. What can I say, I’m Canadian.

After the show, I went over and took a look at the memorial. It’s a giant stylized model of the Korean peninsula that’s split in two. However, the split isn’t as it is in life, i.e. dividing north from south. Instead, it splits the peninsula vertically. In arcs on either side of the upright peninsula are sculptures of soldiers and civilians.

I found it to be a poignant monument.

The museum portion of the War Memorial of Korea is both outdoor and indoor. The outdoor section displays several pieces of fighting equipment such as tanks, aircraft, troop vehicles and naval guns. There is both Republic of Korea and American equipment on display. Not all of the equipment is from the Korean War. Some are missiles of a more recent vintage.

Then again, the Korean War never officially ended. There was only an armistice. So I guess, technically, they’re still weapons of the Korean War.

Inside the museum building, there is one room with more large weapons. But there are also rooms with displays on the Korean War, mentioning the contributions of and thanking the United Nations and the 22 countries that sent forces to fight under the UN banner in defence of South Korea. (My country, Canada, was among them.) The displays also mention the, I forget how many, other nations that provided material or medical support.

Not to downplay any of the contributions of any of the other Nations, some, especially the United States, that sacrificed more, but just to raise my country’s flag, according to signage at the museum, Canada sent one infantry brigade, eight ships, and one transport squadron. In total, Canada sent 26,791 participants, 1,212 of whom were injured and 516 of whom died.

But the War Memorial of Korea’s museum is not just about the Korean War. There are also exhibits about battles from centuries ago to defend Korea against Chinese and Japanese invasions.

Seoullo 7017

After leaving the War Memorial of Korea, I went to take a look Seoullo 7017.

If you don’t already know, you’re probably wondering, what the heck is Seoullo? Well, if you read yesterday afternoon’s post about Cheonggyecheon Stream, you know that it is a stream that at one point had been covered over with concrete and then had an elevated highway built over it. But Seoul tore down the highway, ripped up the concrete and turned Cheonggyecheon Stream back into an urban oasis that runs through the heart of Seoul.

Well, it’s not that. But it’s in the same general vein.

Seoullo 7017 was a part of another elevated highway. That highway is gone, too. But just shy of one kilometre’s worth is still standing, except that it’s now a pedestrian walkway. It’s sort of like what they did with High Line Park in New York, except that was an elevated railway.

The former roadway of Seoullo 7017 is now lined with potted trees, shrubs and flowers. There are a few small cylindrical buildings up there. One contains a piano. The doors of the building were open when I was there, so people could play the piano for other members of the public.

I took the subway to Seoullo 7017 and entered it up a set of escalators close to the Seoul train station. That was close to one end of it. I walked to that end, where it trailed off down a ramp to street level. I then walked to the other end. There, it split into three.

An old highway off-ramp led off to the left. It was lined with lots of pots filled with lush, brightly coloured flowers.

Another off-ramp led to the right. It was lined with potted trees, including several evergreens.

Going straight ahead took me down a slightly less sloped ramp that didn’t go all that much farther until it reached the end of Seoullo 7017.

You might be wondering about the derivation of the name “Seollo 7017.” That makes two of us. If anyone knows or wants to research it, please let me know in the comments below.

If it helps, at one end, I spotted an official sign that said “Seoullo,” but the two Ls were legs, with the bottoms of the Ls being feet. It is now a pedestrian way rather than an auto way, so that probably explains the leg Ls. And it is in Seoul. I don’t know if that helps explain it. Although I’m totally stumped as to the “7017.”

I’ve got to give kudos to cities that recognize their past mistakes and make efforts like Seoullo 7017 and Cheonggyecheon Stream to fix them to make their cities a little more for people and a little less for people’s cars.

As I walked along Seoullo 7017, I couldn’t help thinking that Toronto, my hometown, has an ugly elevated expressway, the Gardiner Expressway, that runs along the built-up south part of the city. (Lake Ontario is only a block or two south of it.) The Gardiner is wider than Seoullo 7017 and, at points, it would provide views of the lake and the city for people walking along it, if people could walk along it. Just saying.

Aside

Pedestrian Paradise, Not

I don’t want you to think from the above few paragraphs that Seoul is a mecca for pedestrians. It’s not. It’s just made a few improvements.

Seoul still has several very wide streets that are not only not pedestrian-friendly, but actively pedestrian-hostile. On many of those streets, crosswalks are very far apart. And with a lot of traffic and cars whizzing by, the legality of it aside, jaywalking would be a life-threatening experience.

I’ve seen a couple of places in Seoul, including one near my hotel, where there is a signalized intersection between those exceptionally widely separated pedestrian crossing points, but the signals have no provision for pedestrians. And pedestrian crossing is not allowed there. I don’t know why they don’t provide pedestrian crossing signals there. I guess they fear that pedestrians might result in some drivers having to wait a bit before they can make their desired turns.

And where there are pedestrian signals to get you across a particularly busy street, if you just miss your green signal, you’ll have time to meet someone, start dating, have a baby, and have grandkids before you get another one.

I know what you’re thinking, “Joel, don’t be crazy. Some of those life events involve activities that would be illegal to do in public while waiting for a crossing signal.”

Okay. Fair enough.

Wait. You don’t believe that you have to wait quite that long? Would you believe a year? No? Would you believe … Sorry. A reader recently placed a “Get Smart” brain worm in my head in her comment. I couldn’t help myself. If you’re not familiar with “Get Smart,” never mind.

The point is, it seems like an interminably long wait for an impatient curmudgeon. Not that I’m mentioning any names.