Jaman Mural Village
A steep postwar hillside neighborhood above Jeonju Hanok Village, where refugee-built alleys were later covered with murals and adapted to small-scale tourism
Mural-lined alleys, hillside views over Jeonju Hanok Village, small cafés, compact neighborhood walks and visitors interested in postwar urban history as well as street art
A small, steep residential neighborhood with narrow lanes, stairs and several access points; the easiest connection from Hanok Village crosses from the Omokdae side
Jaman is most valuable when the murals are read as a later layer on a living hillside settlement whose dense homes, stairs and resident infrastructure still define the place
Character
Jaman Mural Village climbs the hillside directly above Jeonju Hanok Village, where Korean War refugees built a dense settlement of narrow lanes that gained more than 40 murals during a 2012 city project
The murals sit on ordinary houses, retaining walls and stair-side surfaces throughout the residential lanes. Some homes have become cafés, guesthouses and restaurants, while others remain residential. From upper lanes, the tiled roofs of Hanok Village spread below the slope
Jamandonggeumpyo marks Jaman-dong’s historical association with the Jeonju Yi clan and a restricted area designated under King Gojong, placing a Joseon-dynasty memory inside a neighborhood better known today for postwar settlement and street art
The experience
The climb begins almost immediately. Narrow alleys split and reconnect on the slope, and short staircases repeatedly change the view back toward Hanok Village. The painted walls appear in small sequences along separate lanes
The Omokdae side gives the clearest pedestrian connection. Crossing the overpass from Omokdae places visitors near the upper edge of the mural village, making Jaman easy to combine with Hanok Village while keeping the two neighborhoods distinct
Because houses stand tightly against one another, a fire in a long-empty home in June 2026 could have spread quickly. Resident Lee Byeong-hun used a community emergency firefighting device after training from local firefighters, while his wife called emergency services; the fire was contained before reaching adjoining homes
History
Jaman’s modern settlement grew after the Korean War, when displaced people established homes on the steep land east of Jeonju’s historic center. The resulting village developed through narrow lanes and closely packed houses shaped by the hillside rather than a formal street plan
In 2012, a green-trail project introduced murals across roughly 40 houses and walls. The painted alleys attracted visitors from the adjacent Hanok Village, and some residential buildings later took on commercial tourism uses
Its steep lanes, small plots and close house spacing still come from the postwar neighborhood, while the murals form a newer public-facing layer
Before you go
Jaman fits naturally after Omokdae or before returning into Hanok Village. Its compact hillside network works well as an extension of a broader old-city walk
- Hours
- The neighborhood is open 24 hours and year-round
- Admission
- Admission is free
- Access
- The village is steep, parking is not available, and the simplest pedestrian connection from Jeonju Hanok Village is across the Omokdae overpass
- Transit
- Jeonju’s free Hanok Village shuttle passes Jaman Mural Village on its loop between Public Parking Lot No. 4 and Taejo-ro