Taehwagang Donggulpia | Attraction Guide | K-Travel Mate

Taehwagang Donggulpia transformed a place with a painful history of forced labor during the Japanese colonial period into an experiential space. Originally, this was an artificial cave created during the Japanese occupation. In 1942, during the Pacific War, the Japanese military remodeled Ulsan Airfield into a military airfield. To store various military supplies like rice and aviation fuel related to the airfield's operation, multiple artificial caves were built in the mountains of Namsan and Daehyeon-dong around Yeocheoncheon in Sinjeong-dong, Ulsan. There are four Namsan caves spaced about 500m apart from near the entrance of Clover Apartments in Sinjeong-dong, Nam-gu, Ulsan, to Namsan Temple. None of the caves pass through the mountain fully but turn back inside; three have separate entrances and exits, and one has a single entrance and exit. The caves measure approximately 1.5m to 5.5m in width, 1.8m to 4.2m in height, and 16m to 62m in length. In July 2017, Nam-gu Office renovated these caves as Taehwagang Donggulpia to commemorate the historical lesson of the Japanese atrocities including forced Korean labor in the final years of Japanese rule, provide a cool resting space, and attract tourists to Ulsan. Cave 1 functions as a historical experience space introducing the lifestyles, forced labor, exploitation history in Ulsan during Japanese rule, and Samsan Airfield. Cave 2 is an adventure space, Cave 3 is a sketch aquarium space, and Cave 4 serves as an event space showing different cave appearances across the four seasons. (Source: Ulsan Culture and Tourism)