Gangwon Shrine

History & origins

Gangwon Gamyeong was established in 1395, the fourth year of King Taejo of Joseon, when Wonju became the administrative center of Gangwon Province. The Korea Heritage Service describes the site as the provincial government complex where the governor of Gangwon carried out his duties and preserves it as a Historic Site designated in 2002. Because it was a place of provincial administration and judicial proceedings, Catholics arrested during periods of persecution were also transferred here for interrogation and judgment.

In 1815, Simon Kim Gang-i was arrested for his faith, transferred to Wonju, and died after suffering in prison at the provincial compound. During the Gihae Persecution of 1839, John Choe Hae-seong and his aunt Brigid Choe also bore witness to their faith and were martyred in Wonju. The Special Episcopal Commission to Promote Beatification and Canonization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea presents all three as blessed martyrs connected with Gangwon Gamyeong and identifies the site as a place where their witness is remembered.

The three martyrs were among “Paul Yun Ji-chung and 123 Companions” beatified by Pope Francis in Seoul in 2014. Their beatification placed the witness associated with Gangwon Gamyeong not only within local memory but within the history of martyrdom publicly venerated by the Catholic Church in Korea as a whole. The site therefore carries both its historical identity as a Joseon government complex and its Catholic meaning as a pilgrimage place remembering those who did not abandon their faith under persecution.

Today the restored government buildings and protected heritage site communicate the administrative history of Wonju, while the Church remembers the martyrs' witness in the same place. These two memories do not conflict; rather, they show concretely that persecution took place within the actual administrative and judicial institutions of the period. Gangwon Gamyeong thus remains an important site for reading the church history of Wonju together with the social history of late Joseon.