Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery – Some who came to Korea stayed 상세보기|Embassy's ActivitiesEmbassy of the Republic of Korea to the Federal Republic of Nigeria

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Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery – Some who came to Korea stayed

DATE: 2009-09-07

As someone once said, death is a part of life too. Visiting an old cemetery can reveal hints of so many interesting stories of the past. Traditionally in Korea, people – if they could afford it – were buried in individual plots on a mountainside with specific geomantic conditions (the Koreans call it “pung su”; the Chinese “feng shui”). Before the 20th century it was not considered normal or desirable for people to be buried in a common graveyard, centered around a church or other religious center. But the coming of modernization, population growth and rising costs of land have changed that. Still, one hallmark of a Korean cemetery is that there is a raised mound above each grave, and often a sacrificial stone or mini-altar before it, where people can perform ancestral veneration ceremonies.

There is in Seoul one cemetery that stands out from all this: the Yanghwajin Foreigner's Cemetery. Ever since King Kojong gifted this land to the growing foreign community in the late 1800s, this hallowed ground has come to hold the remains and tombstones (not every person memorialized there actually lies buried there) of over 500 people.

On a recent visit to the cemetery, the weather was ideal. Young children from a local kindergarten were playing with their teachers in a park beside the cemetery, and some grounds staff were weeding and cleaning around the graves. There were not many visitors, perhaps because the place doesn't feature too prominently on most people's tour itineraries. But for anybody who has lived in Korea long enough to learn some of its history, this is a must-see destination.

To find the graveyard, the easiest thing to do is take the subway to Hapjeong, which lies at the intersection of lines 2 and 6. Come out of exit 7 and walk straight ahead. Cross the first street, and you will see to the left of you what appears to be a long above ground tunnel snaking off to the left. This is where the line 2 subway train comes up from underground to cross the Han River. You need to walk downhill on the far side of this tunnel, so walk through the small bricked rest-stop and turn left. Go about 100 meters, past the police station on your right, and you will see an array of flags. This marks the entrance to the cemetery.

The burial ground is intimately bound up with the history of Christian missionary activities in Korea, even though less than 200 of the 550 or so headstones here belong to missionaries. The first person to be interred here, J.W. Heron, was an American Presbyterian evangelist who died at the age of 33 in 1880. Workers from many major world Protestant denominations – the Methodists, the Salvation Army, the Baptists – are buried here. The flags by the entrance of the park represent the countries whose missionaries are buried here: Australia, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Great Britain, the United States of America. They are flanked by the Korean flag and a flag of the cemetery itself.

Until a couple of years ago, Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery was under the stewardship of the Seoul Union Church, which was a church formed by foreign missionaries of several denominations in the early 20th century to serve as a home church for their families, where services would be held in English. In the last couple of years, management of the cemetery and the building on it has been taken over by a Korean Church – the Hundredth Anniversary Church. This church sees itself as the keeper of the memory of the work by foreign missionaries to spread the gospel in Korea. Hence the cemetery has been relabeled “Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery” by the church, and some effort has been made to play down the contributions made by non-religious foreigners whose memories are kept here.

Nevertheless, their stories are here to see on their gravestones. And what a stunning variety there is, too. Some of the oldest stones have worn away, while others have stood the test of time. During the Korean War, Chinese and North Korean troops camped near here. While the cemetery itself saw no fighting, it seems that shots were taken at some tombstones – particularly those of white Russians – as some are pockmarked and damaged beyond legibility.

Throughout the cemetery there are signs showing maps for each of sections labeled A to I. Some of the more prominent missionary and other graves are pointed out here.

Every stone a story

There are many tales to tell. During Japanese occupation a young British man by the name of Ernest Bethell came to Korea to found a newspaper – the Daehan Maeil Sinbo – although he was later imprisoned for offending the Japanese colonialists and had his newspaper taken from him. He died in 1909 and his grave is here. The stone is well kept and flowers are still placed here.

One large group plot near the back contains several generations of the Underwood family, who served Korea in so many ways: by founding what became Yonsei University, the Saemunan Presbyterian Church, medical missionary work, fighting in World War Two and the Korean War, promoting education in Korea, and so on. Over a century of this family's history is right here in this graveyard, written on the gravestones and a special plaque. Some of the stones are English on one side and Korean on the other.

Two Americans who this author had never heard of, Clarence Ridgley Greathouse and Brigadier General Charles W. Legendre are buried here. After having worked in Japan, the former as a consul and the latter as an advisor, both men arrived in Korea in 1890, and worked for the Royal Court of Joseon as advisors to King Kojong, before dying in the same year, 1899.

I'd rather be buried in Korea

Also here is Homer Hulbert. While an American missionary, he was also a passionate supporter of Korean independence from Japan from early in the 20th century. After writing books and articles (including one in National Geographic magazine) in support of a free Korea, he was harried out of the country by the Japanese colonial authorities. When he returned after the Second World War, it was to a divided and fractured Korea. He died in August 1949, too soon to see the tragic war that came in the following year. On his gravestone are written the words “I would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey.”

One of the more unusual grave markers is the tall stone column that marks the grave of British Consul to Seoul Henry Bencraft Joly (d. 1898). One side is carved entirely Chinese letters, while the other side once held Roman letters that have since fallen off, making reading the name or inscription very difficult. The column itself is very decorative, and topped with what appears to be a representation of an urn, although from behind it could be mistaken for an owl.

Very close by is the only Japanese person buried in the cemetery: Soda Gaichi (1867-1962). He worked tirelessly for over 20 years looking after Seoul's orphans, until the Japanese surrender in 1945. Invited back in 1961, he spent the last of his days as a 94-year-old man being taken care of by grateful former orphans.

There are many other sections worth seeing, such as American servicemen and their family members (not soldiers who fell in the Korean War, however, they are elsewhere), a poignant infant section, the grave of Ehwa University founder Mary Scranton, Italian diplomats who died over a century ago, but whose graves are still visited and decorated by the Italian embassy today, and much more.

Near the Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery, on the other side of the park and the above ground railway tunnel, is a shrine to Catholic martyrs, known as Jeoldusan. It is here that Korean Catholic converts by their thousands were beheaded and thrown off a cliff in the late 19th century by the prince regent Daewon-gun, who was angry at a French warship attack on Korea in retaliation for the execution of nine French priests. This place is also worth a visit. Pope John Paul II visited here on his trip to Korea in 1984.

Taken together, these places of memorial for those who have passed away can make a fascinating and relaxing, contemplative day trip right in the heart of Seoul.

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