Police Museum

Back to Monday. I woke up a little after 6 AM (that bright sun shining in the window!) and got up an hour later. I stayed at the normal yogwan, but in a different room. This one was a good bit smaller, especially the bathroom. Otherwise, the same as the other room. I had breakfast in the room (bought the night before) before another busy day.

Everything went perfectly today. I saw everything I'd planned and more. I walked past the main Seoul Immigration Office to get to the Police Museum. A Korean man walking out of Immigration gave me a strange look. Not the normal "Oh, it's a foreigner" look but "Oh, it's an illegal foreigner!" How did they find out about me in Seoul?! OK, so I'm a little paranoid. I'll feel a lot better about things when I get my ID card back with the extended visa properly marked on the back.

The Police Museum was appropriately enough located in the Seoul Metropolitan Police Headquarters. I hesitantly approached the guard to ask about the museum. He asked for my passport, but his buddy said an ID card was OK. My Korean ID card? {wince} I thought, "Uh, I'm a tourist?" as I tried to portray a confident air as I handed over my American driver's license. No problem. They gave me an ID badge which I pinned to my clothes, and then I went through a metal detector. Was it even turned on, though? I had keys and change in my pockets, and they didn't look inside my backpack at all.

One of the police guards took me into the main building and downstairs to the basement. It was only a few minutes past the 9 AM opening time so he shouted for whoever was in charge of the place. The cutest policeman ever hurried out and gave me a 45-minute private tour of the museum. The labels on individual artifacts were in both Korean and English, while explanations were only in Korean. His English was fantastic. When he didn't know a word he'd do his best to explain what he meant. He used actions a few times to get the point across. Trying to explain an electric gun or lab techniques or other such things isn't the easiest thing in your own language, but especially in a foreign language! He has one year (of approximately 2) left to fulfill his mandatory duty to his country (instead of military service) and then he'll enter his sophomore year of university.

The museum covered mostly the 1800s~present, but included clothing and a few artifacts from the dynasties. In the past hats were important in telling a captain from an everyday policeman. Police uniforms in other countries were displayed as well. While the Seoul Metropolitan Police had their first woman officer in 1946, it sounded like even today they can't do much beyond traffic control. Part of the display dealt with crowd (riot) control devices—the shields, gas, etc. used to contain hostile protestors.

At the end of the tour he escorted me back to the gate while making some small talk. "Where are you going next?" Sajik Park. "By train?" No, I thought I'd walk. Is it far? He had no idea where it was, so asked another policeman. They said it was close by, and that they'd show it to me. That's OK; I have a map! However, they insisted, so I went along with it.

The two policemen (also young, cute, and buff compared to the Ulsan scarecrow policeboys) walked with me the 10~15 minutes to the park. I would have had no problem finding it on my own, but their knowledge of the neighborhood did save about 5 minutes. They didn't speak much English at all, so we mostly just walked. When we had to cross the street, the policemen confidently walked in front of cars, even taxis! No hesitation on their part, and the cars didn't come anywhere near them. With normal people, it's never certain if the cars are stopping. I received lots of looks along the way—people wondering what the two policemen were doing with the foreigner. If they had handcuffed me I don't think people would have looked at me any more strangely! When we got there I thanked them both and bowed. As I turned and started to walk into the park, the more talkative policeman shouted after me, "Have a nice day!"