korean war museum

it's always nice to squeeze in a little educational culture on my military travels.  on my last trip i made it a point to check out the DMZ.  this time i wanted to spend some time at the korean war museum.  i went to this museum back in 2003 but it happened to be on a korean holiday so i was only able to explore the grounds.  that may not sound like a lot but there are over 100 displays (think vintage planes, tanks, etc) and monuments outside so it was still a worthwhile trip.  this time i was able to check out the indoor exhibit.  it takes a good 3 hours to go through the whole museum.  there are over 13,000 items displayed in 6 themed halls covering a 5,000 year period.  the diaramas were very impressive and there were lots of interactive areas too.  of course i took a ton of pictures.  here are some highlights...

this statue is of two brothers from opposite sides embracing.  it is one of the most famous and touching reminders that these are families separated by years of strife and the south koreans look forward to unification, much like the east and west germans did.

this is supposed to be a portrayal of the children who suffer because of war but it comes off slightly more creepy than sad to me...

and this is a model of the joint reception area on the border between north and south.  i was in one of those little blue buildings (the life-size one, not the model).

and i have no idea what this movie was but it was playing on their imax (in 3D no less).

i thought this turtle ship was pretty cool.  this kind of ship was used once upon a time to fight off the invading japanese.

and this piece of artwork is made up of 1300 dog tags and concertina wire.  this was in the UN room.  sometimes it's easy to think the US is the only foreign presence helping to defend s. korea (because we are the largest presence) but a lot of countries have lost their sons to this war...

on a lighter note...my favorite part unrelated to the actual exhibit?  these awesome little snacks i discovered in the cafe!  they are chocolate shortbread shaped like mushrooms!  i had no idea what they were when i asked for them behind the counter, but how could they not be delicious when there are dancing mushrooms on the box?