After visiting Seodaemun prison's history hall

-Ye-ju Lee

  Many Koreans cried when Japan merged Korea forcibly in 1910. Then, freedom fighters tried to stop Japan from colonizing Korea so they actively opposed Japanese occupation. However, Japan did not tolerate this and imprisoned the resistance. The representative prison which Japan made to imprison Korean patriots is Seodaemun prison. When I entered the prison's history hall, I was irked because Seodaemun prison seemed much more serious than just a simple tourist attraction. Then, I walked around and saw the prison cells. There was no light and there wasn't enough space to stay comfortably. If I was imprisoned in that cell, I probably couldn't have tolerated it for even an hour. Later, I saw the torture rooms. There were various tortures and they were really cruel. For example, patriots enter one torture called the 'small box'. On one side of the small box, there were many sharp blades. Then people outside shook the box and the patriots would die. It was really surprising and scaring. Finally, I saw a secret tunnel made by Japanese soldiers to carry dead bodies. I think it means that Japan was ashamed of their behavior. I was really sad about the deaths of many patriots and angry at Japan's atrocious doings. I was very impressed by all the sacrifices made by the patriots of the time. Moreover, I decided that I will love my country Korea even more.

After visiting Seodaemun prison's history hall

-Ye-ju Lee

  Many Koreans cried when Japan merged Korea forcibly in 1910. Then, freedom fighters tried to stop Japan from colonizing Korea so they actively opposed Japanese occupation. However, Japan did not tolerate this and imprisoned the resistance. The representative prison which Japan made to imprison Korean patriots is Seodaemun prison. When I entered the prison's history hall, I was irked because Seodaemun prison seemed much more serious than just a simple tourist attraction. Then, I walked around and saw the prison cells. There was no light and there wasn't enough space to stay comfortably. If I was imprisoned in that cell, I probably couldn't have tolerated it for even an hour. Later, I saw the torture rooms. There were various tortures and they were really cruel. For example, patriots enter one torture called the 'small box'. On one side of the small box, there were many sharp blades. Then people outside shook the box and the patriots would die. It was really surprising and scaring. Finally, I saw a secret tunnel made by Japanese soldiers to carry dead bodies. I think it means that Japan was ashamed of their behavior. I was really sad about the deaths of many patriots and angry at Japan's atrocious doings. I was very impressed by all the sacrifices made by the patriots of the time. Moreover, I decided that I will love my country Korea even more.