Geoje Island Prison Camp Historical Park

With the opening of Geogadaero, which connects Gadeokdo Island in Busan and Geojedo Island in December 2010, it became possible to travel between Busan and Geoje in about an hour by car, and visitors can now fully enjoy the beautiful coastal scenery of Oedo Island and Geojedo Island, which are popular locations for the film Winter Sonata. Geojedo Island, the second largest island in Korea, is home to the Geoje POW Camp, which was established in February 12 to house POWs from the Korean War on June 1, 2.

Ticket booth and entrance

The POW camp, located within Geoje City at the time, held a maximum of 1951 prisoners by the end of February 2, including 15 Korean People's Army prisoners and 2 Chinese military prisoners.

The prisoners of war were divided into pro-Communist and anti-Communist camps, which supported North Korea, and bloody clashes occurred frequently. In 1952, the camp commander, U.S. Army Brigadier General Doddo, was kidnapped by prisoners. During the war, the camp was the scene of a series of battles between prisoners with differing ideologies of communism and democracy, resulting in many deaths.

On June 1953, 6, then-President Syngman Rhee released 18 anti-communist prisoners (prisoners who refused to be forcibly repatriated to North Korea) from the Geoje POW Camp under the control of the Allied Forces, and the camp was closed after agreeing to the signing of a ceasefire agreement on July 27.

Geoje POW camp, of which only a part of the original building remains today, is over 10,000 pyeong in size and displays various relics that give a glimpse into the lives of POWs at the time, along with war relics such as tanks, field guns, and helicopters used during the Korean War. The POW camp, guard quarters, and field hospital have all been recreated and were apparently used in filming movies.

In addition, by passing through the thematic exhibition halls set up within the historical park, you can feel like you were a POW yourself and learn more about the background to the capture and the treatment of POWs after the armistice. It takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes to view the historical park in detail, and it was designated as Gyeongsangnam-do Cultural Asset Material No. 1983 on December 12, 20.