Notes from the Punishment Room

For this issue of Lost in Gwangju, I’ve spent a great deal of my recent free time doing an amateur corpus analysis of messages I found scrawled on the walls of a dozen or so “punishment rooms” (징벌실) within the now-shuttered Gwangju Prison in Munheung-dong. There’s nothing academic about my analysis, and my methodology is spotty, but I think the messages I’ve found nevertheless hold deep value: They lay bare many of the thoughts and emotions that the human spirit conjures up while locked away in a solitary cage.  

Dongseok-san’s Serrated Edge: Escaping Injury on Jindo’s Sketchiest Mountain

Among the ample little peaks studding Korea’s west, one that’s recently left me lovestruck is Jindo Island’s Dongseok-san. It’s about as far southwest as you can drive in Korea and a solid 2.5 hours from Gwangju.

Unhealed Light: Drawing Inspiration from Kim Eun-ju’s 5.18 Photography 

Kim Eun-ju has spent many years behind the lens capturing images not only of first-hand survivors and the bereft of the Gwangju Uprising, but also of the Jeju Uprising and the Dirty War of Argentina.

Don’t Read This Article: It’s About Geogeum-do

There’s an island in Jeollanam-do, just off the southwest coast of Goheung, that I love so much I almost bought a second home there despite not having a first.

Odds and (Dead) Ends: Four Years of Getting Lost

My involvement with the “Lost” column began this month back in 2018, and as much as I’d like to have a single, significant topic to cover, this fourth anniversary has fallen during a creative slump. As per tradition, whenever this happens, I’m left to cobble together a few half-baked ideas with little rhyme or reason to them. And so, here it is – an underwhelming medley of odds and (dead) ends that have been crowding my workspace these past few months.

Like a Ton of Bricks: Hwajeong I-Park Falls from Grace

The Hwajeong I-Park collapse is on another level.

The Great Leap Backward: A Look Inside the Old Gwangju Prison

“What they were also surprisingly keen on was decorating, as many rooms had unique wallpaper not seen in other cells.”

Anticommunism and Counterespionage in the Middle of Nowhere

“My aim here is neither to extol nor vilify the Saemaul Movement, but rather to highlight its continued impact on the Korea we see today.”