Some Snaps from Hwacheon

Just some photos I took in Hwacheon… for your viewing enjoyment.

Built by the Japanese from 1939 to 1944, the Hwacheon Dam was, at the time of the Korean War, not only one of Korea’s most strategically vital facilities (it produced a good deal of the power for central Korea, including Seoul), but also a weapon in its own right, with the communists using it to hinder UN/South Korean attempts to cross the Bukhangang River. The target of several Allied commando raids, the dam — or at least its sluice gates — was eventually taken out by US Navy aircraft in the last wartime use of aerial torpedoes.

Built in 1945, this simple but sturdy barracks structure was part of the North Korean army’s regional headquarters for the Hwacheon-Cheorwon area. After the South took over this region of Korea at the end of the Korean War, the ROK army utilized the building until it eventually fell out of use.

Tagged as: Hwacheon, Hwacheon Dam