"No Sense of History?" '731 Budae' Course at Ulsan Summer Horror Festival

"Cruel Human Experimentation Is Not a Festival Theme" Criticism
Organizer "Sympathize with Anger, Trekking Course Modified"

A program titled 'Unit 731' has been included in the trekking course of the Taehwagang Bamboo Grove Summer Festival, a representative festival of Ulsan, sparking controversy. As the backlash grew, the organizers issued an apology and bowed their heads.

Controversial Ulsan Taehwagang Bamboo Forest Summer Festival Poster [Photo by Ulsan Theater Association]

On the 27th, the Ulsan Theater Association posted an apology regarding the inclusion of the Unit 731 program in the horror trekking course of the 16th Taehwagang Bamboo Grove Summer Festival scheduled for August.

The association stated, "We sincerely apologize without any excuse for designating the company and course related to Unit 731, which is not a light subject for a horror experience in this trekking course."

They added, "We fully understand the shock and anger towards the selected trekking course," and "The trekking course has been revised and changed."

Apology statement posted by Ulsan Theater Association
[Photo by Ulsan Theater Association]

Previously, the trekking course poster released by the Ulsan Theater Association included Unit 731 as a horror program theme alongside Cheongsachorong (traditional Korean lanterns), Seonghwangdang (village guardian shrine), and Samdocheon Bridge, which led to criticism from netizens.

Unit 731, belonging to the Japanese Kwantung Army, was stationed south of Harbin, China during World War II and conducted brutal biological experiments such as infecting war prisoners with bacteria and performing dissections. It is known that Korean independence activists were among the victims of these experiments.

However, the association not only used Unit 731 as the course name but also attached an explanation stating "human experiments, bacterial experiments, and drug experiments were conducted on living humans," which drew criticism asking, "Did they use this knowing what Unit 731 was?"

In addition, netizens responded with comments such as "How could they think of using Unit 731 as a festival theme?" and "Where is the sense of historical awareness?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.