South Korean Responses to Japanese Colonial Occupation Architecture (JCOA)

Abstract

In this chapter, Lee relates the three case studies (Seodaemun Prison, the Japanese Government-General Building, and Dongdaemun Stadium) to the overarching question regarding the relationship between difficult heritage and national identity formation. She places the three case studies in their wider heritage-scape, classifying twenty-two instances of Japanese colonial occupation architecture in Korea using mapping techniques according to their treatment in the post-colonial period, and documenting the formation of Korea’s heritage-scape over time and outlining the relationship between Korean presidencies in the post-liberation period and the treatment of Japanese colonial occupation architecture. Finally, by comparing trends in visual representations and changed meanings following memory conflicts, Lee considers the factors that make Japanese colonial occupation architecture ‘difficult’ heritage.