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The opening of the Sorokdo National Hospital Hansen's Disease Museum · 🏛️

May 17, 2016 (the 100th anniversary of the Charity Hospital's founding). On the very site where human rights violations began, a museum opened to document and share that history

The Sorokdo National Hospital Hansen's Disease Museum opened on May 17, 2016, the hospital's centenary. It collects and preserves everyday, administrative, and medical materials related to Hansen's disease and Sorokdo. Because claims such as “the world's only” depend on scope and date, this account identifies it more precisely as a specialist museum operated by Sorokdo National Hospital.

That, on the very site where forced isolation began a century earlier, a facility now stands to document that history for the world, to help dispel prejudice against Hansen's disease, and to serve as a channel through which the people of Sorokdo can communicate with the wider world, shows that this island has shifted from a space of confinement and concealment to one of documentation and testimony. As of 2026, the museum continues to run a Sorokdo history and culture exploration program.