Gwangkyo Column by Kim Woo-young A Person Suwon Must Remember: Lee Seung-eon (Part 1)

Discovery of Colored Drawing of Hwaseong Royal Palace Provides Starting Point for Restoration

Recently, former director of Suwon Cultural Center Jeon Heung-seop, News S Editor-in-Chief Jung Jun-sung, and I gathered together. All three of us are members of the Hwaseong Research Group.

We shared many memories that day. The largest portion of our conversation was about the Hwaseong Royal Palace restoration project that was being pursued 35 years ago.

The conversation about Mayor Shim Jae-deok's determination and wisdom at that time, my role as public relations director of the Hwaseong Royal Palace Restoration Promotion Committee, and former director Jeon Heung-seop's quiet, tireless dedication behind the scenes to handle difficult tasks never ended. As veteran regional media figure Editor-in-Chief Jung Jun-sung added his interjections, our draft beer glasses kept multiplying.

Before long, our conversation turned to Lee Seung-eon (April 10, 1945 - January 20, 2002).

Jeon Heung-seop, now over 80 years old, stated decisively: "While Mayor Shim Jae-deok (then director of Suwon Cultural Center) was the greatest contributor to the restoration of Hwaseong Royal Palace, Lee Seung-eon was another major contributor who provided the starting point for the restoration."

On April 24, 2024, the "Opening Ceremony for Restoration of Uhwagwan and Byeolju at Suwon Hwaseong Royal Palace" was held. It was a meaningful event that essentially put the finishing touch on the palace restoration project.

I was honored to be seated in the guest section with only the minor credit of serving as public relations director of the Hwaseong Royal Palace Restoration Promotion Committee.

I was there with promotion committee members Lee Hong-gu, Lim Byung-ho, and Song Chul-ho, and Jeon Heung-seop, the then-director of Suwon Cultural Center who worked hard on the practical matters.

And I thought of Mayor Shim Jae-deok, who stood at the forefront of the restoration promotion movement but is no longer in this world, Provincial Governor Lim Sa-bin, Promotion Committee Chairman Kim Dong-hui, Lee An-ik-seung, Lee Jong-hak, the Dokdo Museum director and seojiologist, and Lee Seung-eon. They should have been here...

The Hwaseong Royal Palace restoration project began in early 1989. Shim Jae-deok, then director of the Suwon Cultural Center, requested that Lee Seung-eon (李承彦, original name Lee Han-gi, then executive editorial committee member for Siheung County Records), a prominent local historian in the region, collect materials related to Suwon's Hwaseong Royal Palace. With his tenacious spirit of searching nationwide for necessary materials, Lee Seung-eon finally discovered a colored drawing "Hwaseong Royal Palace Diagram" at Seoul National University's Kyujanggak Archive, and the image caused a great stir.

"Director! I finally found it. I found the Hwaseong Royal Palace Diagram at Kyujanggak."

In late May 1989, Lee Seung-eon visited Director Shim Jae-deok at the Suwon Cultural Center office.

"Finally you've found it!"

Deeply moved, Shim Jae-deok was at a loss for words. He began examining the Hwaseong Royal Palace Diagram with Lee Seung-eon. Since they were viewing it as a photograph rather than the original, the exact size and material of the picture were unknown, but the Hwaseong Royal Palace was depicted in color on a yellowed background, and in the upper right corner was written "Hwaseong Royal Palace Diagram" in Hangul. Since his childhood days at Shinpung Elementary School, he had heard stories about the existence of Hwaseong Royal Palace, and he had seen the wooden block prints of the palace from the "Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe (華城城役儀軌)," but seeing a photograph so clearly showing the existence of Hwaseong Royal Palace before his eyes overwhelmed him with emotion. Shim Jae-deok immediately spoke to Lee Seung-eon and the Suwon Cultural Center family:

"This is Suwon's lineage of filial piety. Restoring the royal palace is the only way to preserve the tradition of the shrine of filial devotion."

-Kim Jun-hyuk, 2019, "The Beautiful Bathroom Revolution: Mr. Toilet Shim Jae-deok Biography," Mr. Toilet Shim Jae-deok Memorial Project Association (Icon Publishing House), pp. 137-138.

Present at that moment were also the editorial committee members of Suwon Love, including myself. Even now, I can vividly recall his proudly beaming face.

With the discovery of the colored Hwaseong Royal Palace drawing, the restoration project began in earnest.

However, Suwon's Hwaseong Royal Palace was the cradle of Hwaseong. Moreover, since it had been demolished by Japanese colonizers, restoration was absolutely necessary from the perspective of recovering national spirit. For Suwon to become a tourism city, the palace restoration was also a necessary project. Therefore, Director Shim requested that Lee Seung-eon collect materials related to Hwaseong Royal Palace, and he accomplished great work.

With the discovery of the colored Hwaseong Royal Palace drawing, the restoration project began to gain momentum. Following the founding members' meeting of the Hwaseong Royal Palace Restoration Promotion Committee on June 17, 1989, the "Suwon Hwaseong Royal Palace Restoration Promotion Committee" was established in October 1989.

The officers elected that day were: Chairman Kim Dong-hui, Vice Chairmen Hong Ui-seon, An Ik-seung, and Shim Jae-deok, Executive Director Lee Hong-gu, Planning Director Lim Byung-ho, General Affairs Director Song Chul-ho, Historical Documents Compilation Director Lee Seung-eon, External Affairs Director Kim Sang-yong, and Public Relations Director Kim Woo-young. They came from all walks of life: local elders, cultural and artistic circles, academics, representatives of community organizations, and the media.

In the meantime, when news came that Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center Suwon Hospital would be rebuilt on the site of Hwaseong Royal Palace, the promotion committee went on high alert.

In response, Shim Jae-deok, director of Suwon Cultural Center, and committee members Kim Dong-hui, An Ik-seung, Lee Jong-hak, and Lee Hong-gu visited Provincial Governor Lim Sa-bin at that time. Without prior notice, the promotion committee members "burst into" Governor Lim's office and demanded that Suwon Medical Center be relocated and newly constructed for the restoration of Hwaseong Royal Palace.

Despite the fact that the design was already complete, Governor Lim immediately accepted this proposal and on the spot ordered the relevant minister to proceed with the relocation and new construction. With this, the restoration project got back on track. This is why Suwon citizens must certainly remember the name Lim Sa-bin along with Shim Jae-deok and Lee Seung-eon. (To be continued)