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| A permanent photo exhibition capturing the present state of Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul, which is under a transformation into Korea's largest urban park, is held at Black Hawk Village, which used to house American military officers and their families. Yonhap |
By Park Han-sol
While negotiations on the complete return of Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul ― the former headquarters for the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) ― to the Korean government have long been underway, the site has been gearing up gradually for a transformation into the country's largest urban park.
Amid this slow transition, a photo exhibition has been organized to capture the present state of the mostly vacant garrison, which still remains sealed off to the public since the USFK headquarters relocated south to U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in 2018.
Themed, "Look Back on the Past, Dream of Future and Gaze upon the Present," the permanent exhibition kicked off last Friday at the brick townhouses of Black Hawk Village, a former residential compound for American military officers and their families.
Located at the southeastern tip of Yongsan Garrison, the village has been a popular attraction for Koreans since August 2020 after the government recovered ownership of the land and opened its doors to the public for the first time.
Adorning the walls of the townhouses are a total of 50 selected images taken by MJ Kim, who has been a personal photographer for former Beatles member Paul McCartney for more than a decade and has worked with other pop legends like Michael Jackson, Beyonce and BTS.
The photos, all taken throughout last November within the roughly 3-square-kilometer tract of land earmarked for Yongsan Park, offer a glimpse into the largely walled off base and its surroundings.
Their subjects include a high-rise building with a view of the entire garrison, the old site for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), a sports field at the South Post and a softball field adjacent to the National Museum of Korea.
Also on view is a series of central Seoul cityscapes against the backdrop of Mount Nam and the Han River, captured at different moments of the day during the gray light of dawn, sunset and nighttime.
"Yongsan Garrison in the current transitional period has a look of both the past and the future," Moon Yoo-jin of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's planning committee, tasked with the establishment of Yongsan Park, said in a statement.
"We hope that the exhibition can help viewers reflect on and imagine the long history behind the region as it is being developed into a national park."
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