Seoul Battleship Park
Hangang Bike Path
Learn about decommissioned naval vessels on the banks of the Han River.
Tied to the banks Mangwon Hangang Park in Seoul bobs a 102-meter long Ulsan Class frigate with 76mm, 30mm, and 40mm cannons (road view).
This is not a drill. It’s a museum.
Seoul Battleship Park (서울함 공원; map), first opened in 2017, is a naval museum that includes a main museum building and three decommissioned vessels from the Korean Navy.
- Frigate (Battleship) Seoul (1900-ton, 102-meter), once serving in ROK’s navy, now floats riverside, letting passengers aboard for daily tours.
- Patrol Killer Medium is a 37-meter long coast guard vessel sitting on land. Visitors can climb aboard and tour its decks.
- A 25-meter long, 190-ton dolphin-class submarine sticks halfway out of the museum building’s glass wall. Deployed from 1991 to 2016, the sub surveilled from behind enemy lines. Inside the museum, curators bisected the sub and exposed its innards to the paying public.
How much is a museum ticket? For ₩3,000, you can tour all the vessels and the museum.
- Summer: Weekdays – 10 AM to 7 PM, Weekends – 10 AM to 8 PM
- Winter: Weekdays – 10 AM to 5 PM, Weekends – 10 AM to 6 PM
- Closed every Monday.
Maritime History
Why build a naval museum in Mangwon Park? Two reasons:
- From the Three Kingdoms-era to the Korean War, armies and navies wrestled for control over the Han River. Whomever controlled the waterway ruled the peninsula.
- The Joseon Dynasty’s navy once used this section of the Han River to practice naval maneuvers with their warships.
