As US troops leave Seoul, a peek inside Korea’s Yongsan military base
- The Yongsan military base was manned first by the Chinese then the Japanese and finally the Americans
- As US troops move to Camp Humphreys, people are getting a glimpse inside
For more than a century, a massive parcel of land in the heart of Seoul has been occupied by foreign troops.
Separated from the rest of the world, behind high walls and barbed wire, the sprawling Yongsan military base has long been an eyesore for Seoul citizens and foreign visitors.
“In Beijing, you have the Great Wall but here at the centre of Seoul, we have this long wall of grey concrete blocks,” said Kim Hong-ryeol, a Seoul City government official, regarding the 13km boundary that surrounds the 2.4 sq km block.
The foreign occupation of Yongsan dates back to 1882, when Qing dynasty troops arrived from China to help end an uprising by soldiers armed with swords and spears who had been angered by the government’s policy of planning a Western-style force equipped with rifles. The Chinese pitched tents at Yongsan, which was then a mere farming village on the outskirts of Seoul.
These Chinese troops withdrew but returned in 1894 to help quell a farmers’ uprising, leading to a war with Japan over the control of Korea. China lost this war, damaging its centuries-old influence over the country and paving the way for a period of colonial rule under the Japanese from 1910-45.
After the end of World War Two in 1945, American troops took over the base, and have stayed ever since.
