Pak Kyongni Memorial Hall

The pages that came home

Original handwritten pages of Toji (The Land) are displayed beside Pak Kyongni's letters and books at her memorial hall in Tongyeong. She began the epic in 1969 and finished its fifth part in August 1994, working across twenty-six calendar years

The story opens in 1897 in Pyeongsa-ri, where the wealthy Choi household and its tenant farmers face struggles over land, inheritance and power. Seo-hui, the family's daughter, lives through the household's decline as Korea moves toward Japanese rule. The first complete edition comprised five parts in sixteen volumes; a later definitive edition expanded to twenty volumes

Inside, a recreated version of her Wonju writing room gives those pages a setting. A passport, correspondence and portraits from her youth through later life accompany the manuscripts, while a video room shows the writer herself

The other novel set in Tongyeong

Pak was born in Tongyeong in 1926. Her earlier novel Kim's Daughters (1962) follows a prosperous pharmacy owner's family in the coastal town. The five daughters take different paths as the family unravels; Yong-bin becomes a teacher but still faces betrayal and the town's social pressures

Pak made her literary debut in 1955 after losing family members during the Korean War. She later settled in Wonju, where she wrote much of Toji. Pak Kyongni Literature Park there preserves her working house and garden. The Tongyeong museum tells the hometown story

Pak died on 5 May 2008 and was buried on Tongyeong's Sanyang peninsula. The memorial opened nearby on 5 May 2010, the second anniversary of her death. A wooded path leads from the museum to her grave and a hexagonal pavilion overlooking the hills and sea

Old Tongyeong behind glass

A model of Tongyeong's old streets recreates the port town behind Kim's Daughters. Near the writer's photographs, her letters and the reconstructed study, it provides a concrete counterpoint to the imagined streets of the novel. The archive contains her publications and research on them, and the screening room offers footage from her life

Outside, the path to her grave takes roughly fifteen minutes uphill. Poems and literary inscriptions appear along the route. The original working house is preserved in Wonju, while Tongyeong holds the memories, books and landscapes of her hometown

Before you go

Pak Kyongni Memorial Hall is at 173 Sanyangjungang-ro, Sanyang-eup, Tongyeong. It is free and opens 09:00–18:00, closing Mondays and the day after statutory public holidays. Parking, an entrance ramp and an accessible toilet are available

From Tongyeong Intercity Bus Terminal, city bus 531 serves the Pak Kyongni Memorial Hall stop. Bus 530 serves the opposite direction of the peninsula circuit. Return times should be checked; a taxi from the city is a practical alternative. Enquiries: +82-55-650-2541