A site where a temple honoring a Japanese colonial governor of Korea

The Parkmun Temple was a temple built to honor Hirobumi Ito (1841-1909) and the name was from the Korean pronunciation of Hirobumi.

After the empire of Japan consolidated the Korean empire, it replaced an alter built by King Gojong, Korea's first emperor, with a park in 1919. It set up the temple in the east of the park in 1932 to honor Ito who made a great contribution to the consolidation and served as the first Resident-General of Korea.

The temple was located in the place where Hotel Shilla stands today in central Seoul. The temple’s main hall is now where the hotel’s Yeong Bin Gwan (state guest house) sits. The area beside Yeong Bin Gwan where a Hanok (a traditional Korean house) hotel and a Shilla Dutyfree shop are planned to be built will be also in the area of the temple.

The temple was one of major temples maintained by the Government-General of Korea as the event to celebrate the completion of the temple attracted over 1,000 dignitaries including Kazushige Ukagi, the then Governor-General of Korea. Though the temple was removed with the independence of Korea in 1949, steps and roads for cars in the 1930s still remain in Hotel Shilla in Seoul.

“It is hard to understand that a hotel cannot be built because of the vanished temple made to honor Hirobumi Ito,” a source from the hotel industry said.

박재명 기자jmpark@donga.com