Symbol of tyranny breathes new life as museum of pro-democracy movement

Korea Herald

21-05-2025

Infamous Namyeong-dong interrogation rooms set to open June 10 as human rights museum
The Namyeong-dong "anti-communism investigation office" has long been haunted by the memory of police brutality against pro-democracy activists that took place there in the 1970s and '80s, but the notorious venue has recently been repurposed as a museum and memorial hall dedicated to democracy and human rights.
The National Museum of Democracy and Human Rights opens on June 10, marking 38 years since the June 10 Democratic Uprising of 1987 that finally toppled Chun Doo-hwan's military junta. The project was led by the government-affiliated Korea Democracy Foundation, which had worked to remodel the building since 2021 after being handed over its management rights from the National Police Agency.
The office space in Yongsan's Namyeong-dong in central Seoul had been used for forcing confessions from pro-democracy activists during the dictatorial regimes of Chun and his predecessor Park Chung-hee. Its harrowing tales have often been featured in movies, with the office and Lee Geun-an — then a police officer known for being a torture expert under the dictatorial regimes — being the prominent feature of 2012 film "National Security," the Korean title of which translates as "Namyeong-dong 1985."
In 2017's "1987: When the Day Comes," the torture and death of student activist Park Jong-chul at Namyeong-dong is what ignites the fire for the nationwide protest that culminates in the June 10 Uprising.
Over 200 speakers have been installed to re-create the soundscape of the building's days as a torture chamber. Pounding on the wall, metal doors slamming shut and footsteps on the stairs can be heard throughout the building, hinting at the experience of being held in the infamous facility.
The building had been revamped as an NPA human rights center, during which traces of such torture were removed, including an infamous microphone for recording covered up by plaster in the No. 10 interrogation room.
Input from former security guards and the aforementioned Lee were used in the re-creation of its 15 interrogation rooms, according to officials of the KDF. Lee's testimony of his torture plays on loop on screens in the special interrogation room.
Visitors can see where activists were tortured in inhumane ways, including the room where Park was bound subjected to waterboarding, which has a door that does not open from the inside and can only be opened by the interrogators pressing a green button.
The building's nefarious nature lies not only in its history, but also the elaborate design of ingenious architect Kim Swoo-geun, considered one of the most important Korean architects of the 20th century.
Kim designed the building so that none of the interrogation rooms would face each other, in a bid to prevent activists from sending signals to one another. The suspects would be taken in through an elevator and spiral stairway accessible via a narrow passageway in the back, so they would not come in contact with other employees of the office. Tiny windows were placed on the wall to prevent suicide, with tubs inside each room at the ready for waterboarding.
A separate exhibition hall is dedicated to explaining pro-democracy movements throughout Korea's history, from the days of the country's inaugural President Syngman Rhee to key events like the Gwangju Uprising of May 18, 1980.