During the early part of the Japanese colonial period it was known as Keijo Prison[1] (Keijō Kangoku).

Park Jin-hong was a nationalist who spent over ten years of her life in Seodaemun Prison between 1932 and 1944 after being arrested five times.

[5] There are statues of the friends Lee Hyo-jeong and Park Jin-hong reunited[6] in one of the women's prison cells.

Seven of the prison complex's original fifteen buildings are preserved as historical monuments.

[10] During a visit to Seodaemun in August 2015, former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama knelt in front of a memorial stone as an expression of apology for Japanese war crimes in World War II.