Stele for the Private Residence Site of King Injo

Tucked behind a small children's playground in the residential streets of Yeokchon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, a tiled pavilion shelters the Stele for the Private Residence Site of King Injo. It was erected in 1695 by King Sukjong to mark the country retreat where his great-grandfather King Injo, the 16th ruler of Joseon, stayed before he seized the throne in the 1623 coup. Recognised as evidence of the site of a pivotal event in Joseon history, it was designated a Treasure in 2006.

The retreat on the eve of the coup

In Joseon times this area lay near Yeonseo Station, a post station north of the capital, which is where the name Yeokchon ("station village") comes from. The house originally belonged to Injo's father, Prince Jeongwon, later honoured as King Wonjong. When Injo's younger brother, Prince Neungchang, was forced to his death on a treason charge under King Gwanghaegun and Prince Jeongwon died soon after, the enmity between Prince Neungyang (the future Injo) and Gwanghaegun deepened.

Together with the Westerner faction leaders who planned the coup, among them Yi Gwi, Kim Ryu, Choe Myeong-gil and Sin Gyeong-jin, Neungyang prepared to overthrow Gwanghaegun in March 1623. On the day of the coup he took part in person, leading his own guard at Yeonseo Station, close to his house, to meet the troops of Yi Seo. The inscription on the back records that just before the uprising he rested at a pavilion here with two or three close retainers, and that the restoration of the dynasty truly began on this spot. By Sukjong's time the pavilion had collapsed and only its foundation stones remained among the weeds, so the king had the site repaired, walled and marked with this stele.

Today the stele stands in a small park among houses. In December 2023 a community building, the Injo Byeolseo Yugibi Nuri Space, opened right next to it, with a neighbourhood watch post and a heritage security post on the ground floor and a small library and book café upstairs, so it both guards the monument and serves as a local meeting place.

How to read the stele

• Front: the large characters, "Stele on the Site of the Retreat of the Great King Injo Before His Accession", are in Sukjong's own hand. The phrase "yongjam jisi" means the time before a king ascends the throne.
• Back: the text was composed by Sukjong himself and written out by a royal relative, Prince Dongpyeong (Yi Hang).
• Turtle base: a fierce face with open jaws and bared teeth, thick brows decorated with flower patterns, and cloud motifs carved on its shell.
• Capstone: instead of the usual carved dragon crown, it is topped with a simple stone in the shape of a tiled hanok roof. It is valued for combining the early Joseon turtle-base tradition with features typical of later stelae.
• Dimensions: the stone tablet is 168 cm high, 72 cm wide and 26 cm thick; the whole monument stands about 291 cm tall.

Tripto tips

• Getting there: from exit 2 of Gusan Station on Line 6 it is a few minutes on foot. The stele is inside the Injo Yugibi Children's Park, opposite Yeil Girls' High School.
• Time needed: 15–30 minutes is plenty for the pavilion and the stele.
• Good to know: the stele is protected by a wall and its pavilion, so you look at it through the wooden lattice. Walk right around the pavilion to see both the front and the back.
• Combine with: the Eunpyeong History Hanok Museum displays a model of this stele. Add Eunpyeong Hanok Village for a half-day outing.