TRAVEL
34 Lost in Gwangju
▲ A prisoner’s-eye view of a guard tower at the old Gwangju Prison.
The Great Leap Backward www.gwangjunewsgic.com
January 2022
A Look Inside the Old Gwangju Prison By Isaiah Winters
G
etting into prison can be as hard as getting out. This I discovered with Dr. Shin Gyonggu, executive director of the Gwangju International Center, as we traversed an unknown underpass, illegal farming berms, and mud-strewn construction sites just to get to a no-man’s-land of foxtails that ran along an angle of soaring prison walls. A master networker in his element, Dr. Shin had gotten us this far after engaging no fewer than six passersby in just a few minutes: a pair of
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ladies on the street who led us to the tunnel, two farmers who pointed us to all the construction work, and a duo of hardhats who brought us to the hellish foxtail haven. We tramped through this desolate sniper strip till the entrance, where we finally met our prison guides. Just getting to the rendezvous point made me appreciate what extroverts like Dr. Shin could offer, so I felt obliged to prove what introverts like myself could reciprocate. That reciprocation is what follows in this article on what
2022-01-06 �� 9:28:15
