National Museum of Korean Contemporary History - Seoul, South Korea
Posted by: 
elyob
N 37° 34.430 E 126° 58.686
52S E 321450 N 4160453
198 Sejong-daero, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Waymark Code: WM1742H
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Date Posted: 12/05/2022
Views: 1
On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, the history museum is open from 10h00 until 18h00. On Wednesday and Saturday, the museum remains open until 20h00. In 2022, there is no charge for admission. On any day of the week, expect to encounter school groups or tour groups.
Interestingly, the Korean-language edition of the
wikipedia page includes an additional section concerning incidents of distortion of history. A translation follows.
From December 5, 2018 to January 17, 2019, a special exhibition was held under the theme of 'Prisoners of War, Talking about Peace', and the notice said, "Most of the POWs of the ROK and UN forces in North Korean prisoner of war camps have returned to their home countries. " did. Afterwards, when there were criticisms and protests against distortion and fabrication of history, a correction was made saying, “Only 8,000 ROK POWs returned to Korea, so the problem of ‘POWs who did not return’ still remains.” It became a subject of criticism once again by modifying it with an ambiguous nuance that seemed to be that it may have remained after choosing North Korea.
In addition, the museum also stated in the notice that the number of ROK and UN POWs held in POW camps under the control of North Korean and Chinese forces was '13,435' (ROK 8,656 / UN POWs 4,797). 13,649 ROK and UN POWs actually repatriated, claiming that all of the POWs remained without having been converted (8,343 ROK troops - 471 corporal POWs, 7,862 ordinary POWs, additional 10 / UN forces total 5,126 - corporals) 213 POWs, 4,911 repatriated POWs, 2 additional people), that is, the number of POWs claimed by North Korea at the time of the armistice agreement in 1953 was quoted. However, looking at the records of the United Nations Command and the United States Army, the North Korean Army General Command announced through leaflets and broadcasts in 1951 that the number of ROK and UN forces prisoners was about 108,000, and the United Nations Command estimated the number of missing ROK soldiers at the time of the armistice agreement at about 82,000 . In February 2014, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in North Korea (COI) reported that approximately 82,000 people were missing, and that only 8,343 Korean POWs were repatriated through the armistice agreement, and that between 50,000 and 70,000 POWs were detained by North Korea and its allies. announced.
Afterwards, as criticism and protests continued to denounce the distortion of history, the statistical table was removed, and the museum did not believe that POWs remained in North Korea voluntarily.