Yuk Yeong-su Birthplace, Okcheon

This is the place where Madam Yuk Yeong-su, wife of the late President Park Chung-hee, was born on 29 November 1925. No original building survives today, but it is said that the house — occupied since the 1600s first by Minister Kim and later by Minister Song and Minister Min, and known as "the House of the Three Ministers" — was purchased in 1920 by Yuk Yeong-su's father, Yuk Jong-gwan, from Lord Min, a descendant of Minister Min. On a site of 6,047 m², only a caretaker's house and a shrine, rebuilt in the early 1970s, now remain, surrounded by dense woodland. It is said that there were once more than ten buildings, including a main hall, a men's quarters (sarangchae) and a detached hall (byeoldang), but only their sites now remain, amid ponds and gardens. In terms of layout, passing through the main gate one finds the broad site of the men's quarters, with the site of the women's quarters behind it, and the sites of a blue-tile-roofed shrine and a detached hall. Around these are auxiliary buildings where the caretaker and servants once lived, and there is a pond to the east of the men's-quarters site. Yuk Yeong-su was born the second daughter of Yuk Jong-gwan, a model farmer of the Okcheon region, into a distinguished family, and was a modern woman who embodied Korea's traditional feminine virtues. In particular, she devoted her life consistently to service and self-sacrifice on behalf of the underprivileged. However, on 15 August 1974, at the ceremony marking the 29th anniversary of Liberation Day held at the National Theater in Jangchung-dong, she was shot dead by Mun Se-gwang, a member of Jochongnyeon (the pro-Pyongyang association of Korean residents in Japan), and on 19 August was laid to rest in the National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong with a state funeral. This was a residence occupied by ministers since the time of Minister Kim in the 1600s, with an architectural structure typical of the upper class of the Joseon period, and it is a valuable record as the birthplace of Yuk Yeong-su.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Okcheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물