The second museum for the day was the Gimpo Marine Park. About 10km from the Ganghwa Battleship Museum - but no easy bus route between the two, so it was a AUD$30 cab ride between them. The main attraction here is Un Bong - formerly LST-1010 - a WW2 LST that took part in the invasions of Southern France + Okinawa before being transferred to the Korean Navy, which used her in Vietnam.Un Bong is grounded next to the park. You enter via the bow doors, and the entire tank deck has been kitted out as a museum - there is a small section there about the history of the ship, but most of the museum relates to the modern Korean Navy, plus there is a children’s activity area where kids can play a great big computer game sinking battleships, or do colouring in etc. The upper deck of the LST appears to be used for functions - it has stages at both ends. The Fx and Ax aren't accessible, but you do go inside most of the superstructure, and also the compartments along the starboard side of the tank deck (which were used as accommodation/ablutions).The museum displays on the tank deck are very professionally put together, well-presented and largely bi-lingual - however the ship itself is deteriorating - apart from the deck area used for functions, the rest of it is looking pretty weathered, and the hull itself is long overdue for some husbandry. They had a ticket office there, however entry was free (perhaps that is because it is off-season?). They had some other artefacts in the park - an LVT3, a S-2 Tracker, and an LCVP - all of which looked in better shape than the LST.Like a number of museum ships I have visited in Korea, the priority of this museum appears to be promoting the ROK Navy, and generating a 'martial spirit'. Given the historic significance of this ship, I really hope there is a long-term plan to maintain it, and not just swap it out with a more recently retired ship once it deteriorates beyond the point of easy remediation.
