Uireung Royal Tomb, Seoul

Uireung is the tomb of Gyeongjong, the twentieth king, son of Sukjong and the concubine Lady Jang. He was sickly, childless, and reigned four years before dying in 1724; his half-brother Yeongjo succeeded him and ruled for fifty-two. His second queen lies with him. The hill was too narrow for two mounds side by side, so they were placed one above the other on the same slope, the king's higher, each with its own screen of stone figures. Only two Joseon tombs are arranged that way, and this is the one you can see up close. From 1962 the grounds belonged to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, which built its headquarters here, landscaped the approaches with a pond and lawns, and closed the whole valley. The joint statement of 4 July 1972, the first agreement between the two Koreas since the war, was announced from a building on these grounds. The agency left in 1995 and the tomb was put back as it had been; the pond went.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Seongbuk-gu, Seoul

Designation

Historic Site · 사적