Opened in 1978 at the western end of the U.N. Park in Daeyeon, the Busan Museum takes visitors on a journey through the history of the city and its region, from paleolithic times to the modern day. We visited recently and found it to be the perfect rainy-day activity.
Hands down the most somber place we've visited thus far in Busan, the United Nations Memorial Cemetery pays tribute to the international brigade of soldiers who died defending the Republic of Korea against the forces of communism. Sixteen nations are represented here, and the cemetery is a melancholy reminder of the costs of war.
Busan or Pusan? The name is spelled both ways on signs around the city. Before arriving, I'd have bet that the official name was Pusan, but I would have been wrong. In 2000, a new method of transliterating Korean was implemented and the name changed overnight to "Busan". The Korean character ㅂ represents both "b" and "p" (which, when you think about it, are nearly the same letter anyway). For the city's residents, there's no change at all. 부산 remains 부산.
