Abstract

This article examines the multilayered meanings of the Korean Workers’ Party Headquarters, Cheorwon (WPHQ) as a place of memory. Originally built by North Korea in 1946, the building was partly destroyed during the Korean War, and taken over by South Korea after the 1953 ceasefire. After decades of desertion within the Civilian Control Line near the Demilitarized Zone, it was eventually registered as a cultural heritage property by South Korea. For decades, the WPHQ remains have built on the collective memory of anticommunism in South Korea and contributed to formulating a sense of national identity. From the standpoint of counter-memory, however, the site calls for a more nuanced approach. Oppressed memory can reemerge to integrate with current experiences and produce new meaning. Through this process, the site is recoded as a part of cultural memory and transmitted to future generations. Recognized in South Korea for its value as cultural heritage, the WPHQ has become an unintentional historical monument. But reminding us of loss and demise, it has also become an anti-monument. In this uncanny space, dualities such as south/north, center/periphery, prosperity/collapse, and presence/absence converge and their distinctions are blurred, while the various memories associated with the site lead us to reconsider our views on Korea’s modern history.