National Memorial Museum
Emergence of Contestation: 2014
The National Memorial Museum of Korea in Pusan focuses on the Japanese conscription of Korean labourers during the period of colonial expansion, focussing particularly on the lived experiences of the colonized.
Museum Education through Reenactment: Considering Historical Sites in Korea and Japan - Jason Mark Alexander
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kiyong2/49037497296/
Ahn Martyr Memorial Museum 【安重根(An Chung-gun)】
Emergence of Contestation: 2014
The South Korean President Park visited China in 2013, and expressed the idea of building a museum to commemorate An Chung-gun in Harbin, the city where he assassinated Ito Hirobumi. After the construction of the museum in 2014, it was protested against by the Japanese Foreign Minister (2014, Jan. 20). Though An is widely remembered as an Anti-Japanese patriot in China and South Korea, he was regarded as a terrorist in Japan.
DMZ
Emergence of Contestation: 1945, 1950
The DMZ between North and South Korea is being reconceptualised as a potential site for a future peace park. This is in line with a new foreign policy agenda for the inter-Korea summit meetings, focused on fostering peace. The United Nations is a crucial actor in this process, as it originally was in the process of creating the DMZ itself. Both the DMZ and the UN Command in charge of the DMZ are undergoing a transformation from the Cold War era, changing course towards a reconciliation, as opposed to merely containment.
The Demilitarized Zone in Korea: Past, Present, and Future - Hyein Kim
Comfort Women Statue (Seoul)
Emergence of Contestation: 1991, 2011
The Statue of Peace serves as a memorial to young Korean women who became victims of the Japanese wartime military prostitution system. The physical placement of the Statue is Seoul opposite the Japanese embassy was highly symbolic of the victims' waiting for a full and formal apology. However, its reach and the political pressure it could exert were amplified through digital reproduction, which ultimately allowed for a global debate to be kindled. Understanding the Statue in the context of visual politics allows for understanding its rise as a symbol of resistance.
Visualising Korea: The Politics of the Statue of Peace - David Chapman
