DISAPPEARANCE OF DETENTION CENTER

[Anchor Lead]

The Seongdong Detention Center in Seoul, where civil rights activist Park Jong-chul used to be incarcerated, will soon disappear into history. The prison will be open to the public this week for the last time before its demolition begins next year.

[Pkg]

A thick fence surrounded with barbed wire... The moment you step into the building, you face a steel double door. After passing through a gloomy corridor and opening another steel door, a number of cells where inmates used to live come into view.

[Soundbite] YOO JANG-IK(FMR. WARDEN AT SEONGDONG DETENTION CENTER) : "This space consisted of six sections. Those did something wrong while in the prison were incarcerated here separately."

To inmates, these tiny cells measuring only 3.3 square meters were an object of horror. They still bear the traces of prisoners who were incarcerated here many years ago. Opened in 1977, the Seongdong Detention Center had been used as a correctional facility until two years ago. Those who used to be incarcerated here include late civil rights activist Jeon Tae-il's mother, who was accused of spying, and activist Park Jong-chul, who was jailed for his involvement in a student movement in 1986. In 2017, the center was renamed "Dongbu Detention Center" and relocated. The empty, old facility was used as a backdrop for several films.

[Soundbite] YOO JANG-IK(FMR. WARDEN AT SEONGDONG DETENTION CENTER) : "It's heartbreaking to see up close what the inmates had to go through."

The detention center will be opened to the public this Saturday before its demolition begins in the second half of next year. Authorities and local residents will decide whether to build apartments or public facilities on its site.