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| yna@yna.co.kr 2022-05-10 07:34:41
SEOUL, May 10 (Yonhap) -- Cheong Wa Dae, located between Baegaksan Mountain (Busgaksan Mountain), the main mountain of Hanyang by the north, the capital of the Joseon Dynasty, and Gyeongbokgung palace, is now embraced by the citizens.
As the presidential office is relocated to Yongsan, Cheong Wa Dae will be open to the public from the noon on the 10th, with Yoon Suk-yeol becoming the president.
The Cheong Wa Dae area was used as the backyard of the Gyeongbokgung Palace during the Joseon dynasty. In particular, King Gojong, who reconstructed Gyeongbokgung Palace in the 1860s wanted to make the Cheong Wa Dae area a place with a function similar to the backyard of the Cheongdeokgung Palace. Later, he built buildings like Yongmundang and Yongmudang, and held exams for officials and martial arts.
The Japanese Empire, which took the sovereignty from the Korean Empire, demolished the Gyeongbokgung Palace and built the governor's residence. Even after the establishment of the Korean government after a short period of the United States military government, powerful people used it as the site of their official residence. During Rhee Syngman, the first president of South Korea, it was called "Gyeongmudae", but when former President Yoon Bo-seon moved in, it was renamed as "Cheong Wa Dae." The main building, official residence, Yeongbin-gwan, and Sangchunjae were all built after the 1970s.
Professor Hong Soon-min of Myongji University, a researcher on the history of the Joseon Dynasty, said, "Cheong Wa Dae is a place where the remains of many eras including the Joseon Dynasty, Korean Empire, the Japanese colonial period, and after liberation is left."
◇ Completion of the historical city, Seoul… "Must be restored and used carefully"
As the Cheong Wa Dae opens, anyone will be able to walk from the Gwanghwamun intersection through Gyeongbokgung to Bukaksan Mountain where Seoul City Wall is located.
When one moves north from Sejong-daero, where Uijeongbu and Yukjo, the government offices of the Joseon Dynasty, were located, one will be able to see Gwanghwamun, which was restored to its original place in 2010. After seeing Geunjeongjeon (main hall of Gyeongbokgung palace), and Hyangwonjeong Pavilion of Gyeongbokgung Palace, one will be able to go out through the north gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Sinmumun.
Across the street from Sinmumun is the Cheong Wa Dae area. Visitors will be able to look around the main building of Cheong Wa Dae, as well as the site of the wall that guarded the royal palace, the official residence, Sang Chun Jae (a wooden pavilion used to host VIP guests at Cheong Wa Dae), and Nokjiwon (presidential garden, where each president has planted a tree).
The starting points for climbing Baegaksan Mountain are Chilgung (royal shrine dedicated to the seven concubines who gave birth to some of the kings of the Joseon Dynasty) on the west side of the Cheong Wa Dae area and Chunchugwan ( government office during the Joseon dynasty) on the east side. The two hiking trails merge into one at Baegakjeong Pavilion ( tourist road that stretches over 10 kilometers along the ridges of Bugaksan Mountain all the way into Jahamun Gate and Jeongneung Arirang Pass). The semicircular path with the Chunchugwan that includes Chilgung, Baegakjeong, and the press room will be newly opened this time.
When one goes up the mountain road from Baegakjeong, one will pass the site of Beopheungsa (large temple where over 2,000 monks gathered) and reach the Seoul City Wall. When one descends to the west, one will see Changuimun Gate in Buam-dong, while to the east, there will be Sukjeongmun Gate, the northern gate of the Seoul City Wall.
As such, Cheong Wa Dae is located on the central part of Hanyang, the capital of the Joseon Dynasty, connecting Baegaksan Mountain, Gyeongbokgung palace, Yukjo street (refers to a boulevard that runs from Gwanghwamun to Sejong-ro intersection) and Sungnyemun (one of the Eight Gates in the Fortress Wall of Seoul).
Experts emphasized that the restoration and utilization plan should be made considering the surrounding area, not just the Cheong Wa Dae area, considering its location and historicity.
"Baegaksan Mountain and Gyeongbokgung Palace are the places that those who built the city of Hanyang in the Joseon Dynasty first noticed. So, without these areas, it feels like the city's story ends," said Professor Hong. "We need to think about how we would be able to still make it the central part of Hanyang without making any changes."
"Although one of the main parts of the Cheong Wa Dae area is the backyard of the Gyeongbokgung palace, we can't deny the history of the future generation," he continued. "It is necessary to carefully decide how one would restore and utilize the palace so that it will be known as the backyard of the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the office of the president.”
“Cheong Wa Dae is a space that symbolizes the authoritarian government in South Korea," Lee Ki-bong, a curator at the National Library of Korea, who majored in historical geography, said. "I hope people would see it as a place where one can learn historical meaning like the Seodaemun Prison (former prison in Seodaemun-gu and signifies the suffering and pain of Koreans during the modern period) , rather than looking at it unconditionally."
◇ Touring the area of Cheong Wa Dae not decided after the 23rd
According to the website of "Cheong Wa Dae, into the arms of the people" opened by the Presidential Transition Committee, the visit to Cheong Wa Dae will be operated from the 10th till the 22nd. The maximum number of visitors per day is expected to reach 39,000. This period overlaps with the Royal Culture Festival held jointly by the Cultural Heritage Administration Royal Palaces and Tombs Center and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation.
Information for touring the Cheong Wa Dae area after the 23rd is not available on the website except for the guidance that says "to be announced later."
"There is a high possibility that it will be open after the 23rd, but a specific plan has not yet been finalized," said an official from the Cheong Wa Dae Public Relations Promotion Division at the Cultural Heritage Administration. “It will be decided in consideration of the convenience of the visitors and the preservation of the scenery,” he said.
"It seems that the discussion on how to utilize each buildings, which is considered an important task, can only start after the basic investigation of the Cheong Wa Dae area is completed," he added. "We will also be reviewing opinions whether the Cheong Wa Dae would need to be designated as a private area or registered as a modern historical and cultural space."
Some analysts predict that if free viewing is implemented in the Cheong Wa Dae area, it will emerge as a tourist attraction that attracts more than 1 million people each year.
Earlier, the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute estimated that the economic effect of the opening of Cheong Wa Dae would reach at least 200 billion won a year, but some argued that a closer review was needed.
"The opening of Cheong Wa Dae should be approached from a historical and cultural perspective, not from an economic perspective," an academic official said. "We should create a policy that can protect the value of the cultural heritage while increasing contact with citizens."
In 2019, just before the spread of COVID-19, 5,346,000 people visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. Even if only half of the visitors stop by Cheong Wa Dae, the number will reach two to three million. If the number of visitors in the Cheong Wa Dae area increases, it is highly likely that the nearby Seochon and Bukchon commercial districts will be revitalized.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Haemin Kim.)
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