Kim Chung-young's Suwon Microscope (24) Should a Plaza Be Built in Front of Hwaseong Haenggung?

The restoration project of Hwaseong Haenggung can be said to have begun in early 1989 when Shim Jae-deok, former Suwon Mayor, was serving as director of the Suwon Cultural Center. It developed as a civic movement after local historian Go Lee Seung-eon (real name Lee Han-gi, then standing editor of the Siheung County Records) discovered the original color "Hwaseong Haenggung Map" at Seoul National University's Kyujanggak. The project proceeded in earnest after Gyeonggi Provincial Hospital announced plans for new construction. The first task was to prevent the provincial hospital from being built at the Haenggung site.

The Haenggung Restoration Promotion Committee played a decisive role in relocating the provincial hospital next to the Jeongja-dong Tobacco Manufacturing Factory. Director Shim Jae-deok was a graduate of Shinpung Elementary School located at the Haenggung site. Perhaps this is why he had greater affection for the restoration of Hwaseong Haenggung. Subsequently, Mayor Shim Jae-deok, elected as Suwon's first elected mayor, committed himself earnestly to the Haenggung restoration project.

After breaking ground on the Haenggung restoration project in 1995, he dedicated himself to registering Hwaseong as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On December 6, 1997, Hwaseong was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As the first phase of restoration was nearing completion in 2002, seven years after the project began, the grandeur of Hwaseong Haenggung became apparent.

However, the Haenggung was not visible from the old national highway road between Jang안munand Paldalmun. This was because there was a forest of 4-5 story buildings in the 150-meter section between Jongno Intersection and Haenggung. As a result, citizens, particularly members of the Hwaseong Research Institute, were greatly concerned.

First, there were many opinions that Hwaseong Haenggung should be visible when passing by the old national highway, a major road. Second, there were many opinions that in the future many tourists would visit and many events would be held, and preparations should be made for such demands. For these reasons, opinions began to emerge that a plaza should be built in front of Haenggung. However, side effects of building a plaza could not be overlooked.

First, there was no plaza culture in the Joseon Dynasty. Second, if the Haenggung access road disappeared, the intersection would become a three-way intersection, distorting the original form of Hwaseong Haenggung. Third, if a plaza were created, Haenggung would appear diminished. Fourth, many people worried that if a plaza were built, it would become a site for protests.

And more importantly, there is the content from the 21st installment of "Reading Suwon's History through Old Maps" in "Kim Chung-young's Suwon Microscope." The road in front of Haenggung would disappear from "the first place of dramatic change" where administrative divisions changed seven times, starting from when the Gwanggyo area changed to South Village (南里) and North Village (北里) after a new city was developed at the foot of Paldal Mountain.

However, there were not many records about the road in front of Haenggung. The record comes from "Wonhaengeul-myo Jeongri Uigwe" (園行乙卯整理儀軌), which documents King Jeongjo's eight-day visit to Suwon from February 9, 1795 (lunar calendar). It states: "The royal procession entered through Janganmun, passed Jonggae, went through the front roads of the military camps on both sides and passed Shinpungnu and Jwaik Munmun to enter Jungyangmun (中陽門) and arrived at Bongsudang."

And after the fortress was completed in 1796 and "Hwaseong Seong-yeok Uigwe" (華城城役儀軌) was published in 1801 (the first year of King Sunjo's reign), there is "Hwaseong Jeonmdo" (華城全圖) which depicts the appearance of Hwaseong at that time. From these materials and the surveying map created in 1911, it is possible to estimate to some extent the appearance of the area around Hwaseong Haenggung before it was damaged by the Japanese.

In front of the royal palaces of the Joseon Dynasty capital, six ministry streets (六曹) were formed. In front of local county offices, commercial markets (市廛) were established. It is believed that government offices related to Jangnyongyeong (壯勇營), which protected Hwaseong at that time, were established in front of Haenggung. Professor Yu Bong-hak of Hanshin University argues that Chogwancheong (哨官廳), Topocheong (討捕廳), Bangyeongcheong (防營廳), Byeolhyosajeong (別驍士聽), and Byeolgunguancheong (別軍官聽) were established in front of the palace.

After King Jeongjo's death, with the dissolution of Jangnyongyeong, the military camp would have been converted to other uses. Later during the Japanese colonial period, Bongsudang of Hwaseong Haenggung was used as a Charity Hospital and subsequently became Gyeonggi Provincial Hospital. Suwon Ordinary School was established in the Uhwagwan, which was a guest house, and a police station was established in the North Military Camp. As a civil engineering department was established in the South Military Camp, they were all demolished.

At the nearby Yia (貳衙) site, Gyeongseong District Court Suwon Branch was established. And at the Jungyeong site opposite the clock tower, Suwon County Office was located. The district court and prosecutor's office moved to the Seonkyeong Library site. After the district court and prosecutor's office built a new building in Woncheondong and relocated, the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, which was in Incheon, moved there.

With government offices being established in and around Haenggung, Yia, and the military camp, government offices and related businesses such as document offices, restaurants, hospitals, and inns naturally developed along Haenggung-gil, and residential areas formed behind them. In the Hwaseong Surrounding Area Improvement Plan established in 2002, a plaza plan in front of Haenggung was reflected. Starting with the establishment of a basic plan for plaza construction in October 2003, administrative procedures for plaza construction were initiated.

In July 2004, compensation began. The compensation targets were 54 buildings, and approximately 7,000 pyeong of land. The Hwaseong surrounding area was designated as a cultural heritage protection zone, so residents suffered many disadvantages. However, residents incorporated into the plaza quietly cooperated with Suwon City's Hwaseong project.

Some refused to accept negotiated purchases citing low compensation prices and went through the land expropriation process, but overall compensation was carried out smoothly.

On the plaza site, there was uniquely an administrative agency, Suwon Post Office. It was the Suwon Post Office that had been in operation for 110 years from its opening as the Hanseong Post Office Suwon Branch on September 28, 1895, until 2005 when the plaza project was being promoted. Yet suddenly, Suwon City announced a plan to create a plaza in front of Haenggung. For Suwon Post Office, this must have been like a bolt from the blue.

Kim Seok-gyu, who was working as the package room manager at Suwon Post Office at the time, expressed his regretful, distressed, and hollow feelings through a column titled "Ah! Suwon Post Office, Suwon Post Office!" published in the Gyeongin Daily News. He stated that the post office went beyond being a simple government agency and was a conduit connecting people to people. He wrote, "In the era when feelings could not be conveyed only through writing, it was the only means to confirm love and longing, sometimes sorrow and anguish."

At the time, as the director of Hwaseong Projects Office, I even went to meet with the postmaster, but he was not at his desk and refused to see me, showing how disappointed the post office was.

"The Story of Creating Hwaseong Haenggung Plaza (2) " will continue in the next issue. / Kim Chung-young, Ph.D. in Urban Planning