The first thing that caught my attention as we got out of our car. It was inscribed on the wall on one of the museum buildings that I visited.
Museum? Yes, it was called Museum of Peace.
Its full-name is Jeju Meseum of War History and Peace.
Yes, this is located i Cheongsuri, Hangyeongmyeon Jeju. well..it's a bit complicated name for a location,but's that's how it's called--pretty much so.
wait! Is it really a museum? Yes. How come that it is mostly outdoor? That's the thing that came across to my mind when I was there. This door led us to something extraordinary...awaiting for us.
It turned out that this led us to labyrinth or tunnels after tunnels that seemed to endlessly go nowhere. Yes, quite partially true.
These tunnels were made by the Japanese during Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula including Jeju island. So, they dug this intricate tunnels as their centers of controlling the island--or so I learned.
All of the things are all intact and exactly like the way they were left unattended....
There are halls where visitors who mostly school students who come and learn the painful history of war.
The main point and goal of this museum is to teach anyone about the tragedy caused by war and the atrocity that war bestowed upon mankind and humanity.
Although this museum basically portrayed the Japanese occupation in Korean land, the main purpose was not to instill the hatred towards Japan, but rather...to remind the new generation that war...of any kind is evil...that we should abolish and never perpetuate it whatsoever.
I happened to take a picture of this photo in the museum. It captured my heart, attention, eyes, mind, senses..and it just....speaks by itself. War of any kinds only did harms to mankind.
We were lucky to have met the founder as well as the director of the museum. He is Mr. Lee Young Ceun who was kind enough to give us a free tour and in-depth story of the museum.
What's more enticing about this is that..he himself was the one who initiated this museum. He found the cave leading to the tunnels and he dug out most of the materials and any historical artifacts found underneath the tunnels. He collected and compiled them one by one and mostly with his bare hands and energy, he established this Peace Museum with a humble purpose on his mind.
In the morning when we were there, the tranquility of the museum was squeezing our nerves as we learned a lot about what to be done with the peace we are living in at the moment...
ok, one more thing: I did not take as many pictures as I should have since I was so glued into what Mr. Lee was talking and explaining about during the tour.
So, this is one object called a siren. It was activated by moving the handle in such a way to make a siren call for any one to start marching and ready to get instructions from the Japanese ruler at that time. Mr Lee told us that he used to automatically ran towards the village's field as fast as he could as soon as he heard the siren......to receive orders.
I wonder what life must have been like during those years...
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Anyhow..after visiting this museum, I really appreciate the sacrifice our heroes made for us.
