Our own visits (March 2025 and June 2026), not sponsored. Opening hours, admission and parking come from Seodaemun Prison History Hall's official visitor pages (checked September 2026); the March 1st free entry comes from the Seodaemun-gu Urban Management Corporation's press release of February 18, 2025. Address and phone match Naver Place (checked October 6, 2026). The character illustrations are GPT-generated images.
Seodaemun Prison History Hall, Twice — A March 1st Evening and an Early-Summer Afternoon at the Same Taegukgi Wall (Hours, Fees & Parking)
Our Seodaemun Prison History Hall diary 📷
We went twice,
fifteen months apart.
June 13, 2026, 5:53 pm — the giant Taegukgi hanging on the red-brick prison building, clear sky and long afternoon shadows
🚇 Dongnimmun Station (Line 3), exit 5
⏰ Mar–Oct 9:30–18:00
Nov–Feb 9:30–17:00
(last entry 30 min before closing)
🚫 Closed every Monday
💰 Adults 3,000 won
Youth 1,500 · children 1,000 won
Free for age 6 and under
🅿 No parking lot of its own
(use nearby car parks)
📞 02-360-8590
Once on March 1, 2025,
the evening of Samiljeol
(Independence Movement Day);
and again on June 13, 2026,
a Saturday afternoon.
Both times, in the same spot,
we took photos in front of
the giant Taegukgi (Korean flag)
on the red-brick prison building.
This post is written only from
the photo timestamps
and the official information.
We have no record of how the kids felt,
so we’ve left that out.
🌥 March 1st, 2025 — 6 pm
All fourteen photos from the first visit
were taken between 6:02 and 6:03 pm.
The sky was gray,
everyone wore padded jackets,
and some people held umbrellas.
They’re photos of the family
taking turns in front of the flag,
hand on heart
or saluting.
Every face is turned to the camera,
so we’re only sharing a crop
of the wall and the flag.
March 1, 2025, 6:02 pm — the red-brick prison building and the Taegukgi under a gray sky
For the 106th anniversary
of the March 1st Movement,
the museum was free to enter
for two days, March 1 and 2.
(Seodaemun-gu Urban Management Corporation
press release, February 18, 2025)
The program ran from
a 10 am memorial ceremony
and a manse (“hurrah”) march
to citizen events in the afternoon,
but our photos start at 6:02,
just past the usual closing time
(18:00 in March),
so we have no record
of seeing the daytime events.
☀️ June 2026 — an early-summer afternoon
The second visit was a Saturday,
fifteen months later.
There’s a photo of our car
in an underground car park at 4:28 pm,
and the next one is
the indoor exhibition hall at 5:35.
A whole wall is covered
in an old aerial photo,
with the word ‘기억’ (Memory)
and two years, 1945 · 1987.
Below it glows a photo wall —
hundreds of small photos
running along like a ribbon.
June 13, 2026, 5:35 pm — the 'Memory 1945 · 1987' wall and the photo-wall exhibit; we cropped out the bench where our child was sitting
At 5:53, back in front of the flag wall.
This time the sky was blue,
we were in short sleeves,
and the prison building’s shadow
stretched long across the yard.
Our two kids stood under the flag
with hands on their hearts,
and we took twelve shots in 30 seconds.
The photo at the top is the one
where the kids are farthest away
and their faces can’t be seen.
Same wall, different sky
The gray sky of the March 1st evening
and the blue sky of a June afternoon —
this is how different they look.
From Dongnimmun Station exit 5,
public transport is the easy way
📋 Visitor info (official)
(Seodaemun Prison History Hall’s
official information, checked September 2026)
Opening hours
Summer (Mar–Oct) 9:30–18:00
Winter (Nov–Feb) 9:30–17:00
Last entry 30 minutes before closing
Closed
Every Monday (if a public holiday, the next day)
January 1, and the day of
Seollal (Lunar New Year) and of Chuseok
Admission
Adults (19–64) 3,000 won
Youth (13–18) 1,500 won
Children (7–12) 1,000 won
Groups of 20+: 2,400 · 1,200 · 800 won
Free
Age 6 and under, 65 and over,
people with disabilities (severe: plus one companion),
national merit honorees (and spouses),
enlisted soldiers in uniform (up to sergeant), and others
Parking
Seodaemun Independence Park car park (on-street)
cars 300 won per 10 min
Dongnimmun Culture Park car park (underground)
200 won per 5 min
Spaces are limited,
so they recommend public transport.
We can’t tell from the photos
which of these was the underground car park
we used in June.
👍 Who this is for
✔ Anyone checking Seodaemun Prison
History Hall’s hours and fees ahead
✔ Anyone planning a family history trip
on March 1st
✔ Anyone looking for an outing
by public transport near Dongnimmun Station
In a year with free entry and events
on March 1st, as in 2025,
the right move is to go during the day.
Normally it’s 3,000 won for adults,
1,000 won for children, free for 6 and under.
You can’t park at the museum,
so public transport is the easy way.
One more Seoul outing with the kids —
the Seoul Science Center Starlight Festival → read it
📍 Seodaemun Prison History Hall — open in Naver Map
From our visits in March 2025 and June 2026. Opening hours, admission and parking follow Seodaemun Prison History Hall's visitor information and directions pages (in Korean, checked September 2026); the March 1st free entry follows the Seodaemun-gu Urban Management Corporation press release of 2025-02-18 (in Korean) and may differ from year to year. The character illustrations are GPT-generated images.
Translated from our Korean post with AI assistance. Times, fees and other numbers were checked against the Korean original, whose details come from the museum's official pages (checked September 2026) and Naver Place (checked October 6, 2026). We did not check what information is offered in English on site. Original post (Korean)