Battlefield Tourism in Korea

[[sixzero7]KimWonJu]

Without a doubt, i think many memorial places in Korea are not that much seriously commercial. Actually I heard that there are many tour products about visiting DMZ and underground tunnels. It is only for foreigners. In this case, i can say this is mainly for money. Their sight to see those places are different from Korean. All people have their own patriotism for their own country.

When it comes to Korean, the battlefields is not for travel. It is for remembering the sacrifice and the tragedy of war in 1950. Basically it is hard to be biased in this case. No one can deny all things are connected to capital, commonly money. These aspects of some battlefield tourism should be recognized to keep our memorial place. People have to think that the maintenance cost must be huge.

Even though in Youngsan there are souvenir shops, entrance fee, and parking fee, I couldn't agree with the idea that these things are commercial. These aspects of some battlefield tourism should be recognized to keep our memorial place. For reasons of our busy daily life, we might forget our history. We're not supposed to leave this memory. Whether it is commercial or not, the main point is to bear our history in mind.

[sixzero7_Kimyuhye]

I read your opinion interestingly.

But I have different point of view in some ways. First of all, there are some count evidence in your opinion. The DMZ is not a sight that merely historic battle once took place. Because The Repubric of Korea and North Korea are in the situation of armistice, it's hard to remind the past objectively. The shight of war can be decorated in biased view like Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers were treated differently after battle of Gettysburg. And the other problems with Gettysburg battlefiled tourism is shown in Korea battlefield tourism clearly. Concentration camp sight in Geoje island can be good example. Geoje island is famous sightseeing place. Families hoping to have nice vacations visit the island, and go to Concentration camp sight as a part of sightseeing. Rather than remind the meaning of the meaning of peace and freedom, they seek enjoyment there. The sacred to the memory of the soldiers is decorated with ribbons and night illumoinations. It cannot be said the history is educated correctly. And second, Korea battlefield tourism also got there own problem, too. There are also some battlefield which are forgotten, because the battle itself took place so long time ago. For example, Pungnabtosung is supposed to be a cattle for defense of Baekje, a dynasty established B.C. 18. It is really a kind of battlefield but even scholars don't know precisely what battle how broke.
It is important to keeping in mind the lessons and facts historical battlefields give us, but there have to be some ways to improve environments in studying at the very place historical battle happend.


reference
http://news.nate.com/view/20100806n14531
http://search.nate.com/search/all.html? ... 9%E9%C1%A6
http://engdic.nate.com/

[lostKimMinJeong]

I read your opinion, and I'm really with your idea that whether it is commercial or not, the main point is to bear our history in mind. Because if we keep histories inside us, we can learn something from that... At least we won't make same mistakes that our ancestors did before or we wil follow their great achievements.

And to make sure that we keep histories in our mind, learning history is the most important thing. And visiting historical sites really helps to learn history. Seeing and feeling monuments is different from just listening to teachers or reading books. Visiting historical sites will impress people who want to learn history.

But maintaining these mounments and facilities near them requires money. If the government or owner(who has duty to maintain monuments) don't charge fees to visitors, it could be hard to maintain these places. So charging fees to visitors isn't seem to be a commercial to me. Selling souvenir can be also kind of fundrasing to maintain these places well. Furthermore, bringing souvenir to home, can make people remember more about that historical sites and historical events.

[Yoo Byoung Jun]

I am definitely in favor of your opinion. The Korean government should be aware of preserving battlefileds and let our offspring know what happend in the past and what is needed to prevent war from occurring. When it comes to battlefield tourism, however, going commercial is inevitable. I mean that the Korean government allocate budgets to numerous ruins which are scattered throughout the country. Some local governments can afford to maintain without the support of the government, but others are in need of money. Therefore, making some profits is plausible but the way local governments run is the point.