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Glimpse into Korea through lens of 21 Czechs
This undated photograph taken by one of the 21 Czech delegates who came to Korea as part of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission after the 1950-53 Korean War shows Panmunjeom in its early days. / Courtesy of Czech Center in Seoul
By Kim Se-jeong
By Kim Se-jeong
An ongoing photo exhibition at the Czech Center offers a rare glimpse into the Korean Peninsula after the Korean War, which ended on July 27, 1953, with the signing of an armistice agreement.
Taken by 21 Czech nationals stationed at the border village of Panmunjeom as part of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC), the photos show viewers images of the Panmunjeom compound in its early days; the lives of the Czechoslovak delegation at the compound; the peace agreement working process; and ordinary lives in Pyeongyang, Nampo, Gaeseong, Daegu and Busan.
“We are happy to share this rare glimpse into Korea right after the war. These unique Korean photographs were sadly forgotten just as was Czechoslovak involvement with North Korea in the 1950s.” said the Czech Ambassador to Korea Jaroslav Olsa, Jr., during an opening ceremony held at the Czech Center in Seoul, July 2.
The photos in display were taken between 1953 and 1955.
The presence of Czechoslovak contingent in the aftermath of the war was quite sizable.
Between 1953 and 1958, more than 500 Czechoslovak nationals were stationed at the border, self-equipped with cooks, drivers and translators.
The main task for the delegation together with the Polish contingent was joint supervision of the truce arrangement and regular inspections of ports of entry, investigations of possible violations. They were nominated by North Korea and China, while the South Korean side chose Sweden and Switzerland.
In 1953 alone, the number of Czechoslovakians stationed at the border was almost 300, which gradually went down.
In January 1993, North Korea announced it would close down the Czechoslovak presence at the NNSC. Less than a month before, Czechoslovakia dissolved into the Czech Republic and Slovakia peacefully. The Berlin Wall had come down four years before.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia agreed that the former would carry on the responsibilities of the NNSC at the Panmunjeom.
On April 3, 1993, the last group of the Czech NNSC delegation left the compound.
Accounts and materials from the 40-year operation on the Korean Peninsula remained unseen and untold until 2007, which is attributed to the former communist government of the state which classified them as state secret classification.
In 2007, Czech diplomat Jaroslav Olsa. Jr., and a Czech journalist and historian Alex Svamberk initiated a project to retrieve photos.
For Olsa, the motivation was that he had just been appointed as ambassador to South Korea. For Svamberk, his father Jeromir, who had been on the Korean Peninsula as part of the NNSC mission, was the motivation. His father was a translator for the Czechoslovak members of the NNSC.
They won financial support from the Czech Foreign Ministry, and the journey by Sambuk began.
The two were pleasantly surprised, Olsa said, by what they found.
Not only 4,000 photos — both in color and black-and-white — but also a collection of diaries, documents and black-and-white 8 mm films.
The embassy is collaborating with the Seoul Museom of History to turn the photos into a book to be published later this month. Some of the photos will appear in The Korea Times later this month as well.
Svamberk will come to Korea and give a talk on the photos at the Royal Asiatic Society Korea branch meeting on July 16. Likewise, Ambassador Olsa will make a presentation “The History of Military Contacts and Ties between the Czech and the Korean from 1871 to today” on July 24 at the Czech Center in Seoul.
Andrei Lankov, an expert on the early days of North Korea who was among the guests at the opening, noted that the new photos will enrich a thin pool of materials related to North Korea right after the Korean War.
The exhibition will stay on until Sept. 10, and visit https://seoul.czechcentres.cz for more information.