5 de octubre de 2019
began. This process started with none other than the complete elimination of the Shinto shrines on top of Namsan Mountain. However, this wasn’t by angry Koreans mobs, it was done by the Shinto Priests themselves, who were worried that Koreans would tear down the temple, as demonstrations in the streets built up against the shrines and burning of them was promulgated throughout the city. In place of the shrines on Namsan, a Korean music school stood for a while. Namsan also became the home of anti-colonialism, anti-Japanese and national monuments. For example, memorials to An Chung-gun (a Korean independent activist who killed the Japanese Governor-General Itō) sat on top of the mountain. Syngman Rhee, in a similar agenda to Napoleon Bonaparte, sought to place himself in history, and he unveiled an 80-foot statue of himself to celebrate his eightieth birthday in Seoul. Coincidentally the opening ceremony of this statue ran parallel to the celebrations of National Foundation Day (October 3th) and Liberation Day (August 15th).16 Another of Seoul’s contested spaces and problems was the Government-General Building smacked right in front of Gyeongbokgung’s Throne Hall. The building was an eyesore, but removing it was incredibly costly. Debates also circulated on whether to destroy it or not. For some destroying the building could mean a setback in restoring the whole of Seoul, while others argued that eliminating it meant eliminating all the other Japanese buildings built during colonial times, which was (according to critics) quite unwise when the buildings could be used and repurposed for creating own Korean (South Korean now) national sentiment. Nevertheless, the Government-General building was converted into Seoul’s Capitol Hall from where Syngman Rhee and South Korea’s following leaders till 1986 governed. Gyeonbokgung Palace, which revolved around this new Capitol Hall was now turned into a space to advocate and celebrate nationalist activities. It was here that the first-year anniversary of South Korea’s constitution was celebrated, as well as yearly festivities revolving around Liberation Day and National Foundation Day. Echoing the exhibitions held by the Japanese during colonial times, these festivities included cultural and traditional activities.17 16 17
Todd A. Henry, Assimilating Seoul (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014), 205-208. Ibid, 210-211
Panmunjeom, the site where the two Koreas meet, looking toward North Korea 30
