Seunghun Pedro Lee History Park to Open Next Month in Incheon... Surrounding Roads Expanded and Opened

Incheon City expanded the surrounding Munemiro and Baekbeom-ro roads and opened them on the 19th to coincide with the creation of a historical park honoring Lee Seunghun Pedro, the first baptized Catholic in Korea.

The road expansion project began in October 2022 and was promoted to improve the surrounding traffic conditions as the area around Lee Seunghun's gravesite was developed into a historical park.

The city expanded sections of Munemiro and Baekbeom-ro near Jangsu Intersection in Jangsu-dong, Namdong-gu, where severe bottlenecks occurred, by one lane each. An Incheon city official stated, "With the road expansion alleviating vehicle congestion at Jangsu Intersection, we expect many citizens to visit the Lee Seunghun Historical Park."

Jangsu Intersection~Baekbeom-ro
Photo by Incheon City

The Lee Seunghun Historical Park will open next month. The historical park, created at Lee Seunghun's gravesite at San 153-3, Jangsu-dong, Namdong-gu, covers an area of 46,000 square meters and includes a Catholic history and culture experience center with two underground floors and one above-ground floor, totaling 1,468 square meters in floor area.

Incheon City bore 11.1 billion KRW for the park construction, and the Incheon Diocese Catholic Church Maintenance Foundation covered 7 billion KRW for the construction of the Catholic history and culture experience center, which will subsequently be donated to the city.

Lee Seunghun was baptized in Beijing, China, in 1783, becoming the first baptized Catholic in Korea, and was beheaded during the Shin-Yu Persecution in 1801, becoming a martyr. Notably, his family produced five martyrs over four generations, including his son, grandson, and great-grandson, an unprecedented occurrence that is regarded as a special history in the global Catholic Church.

Incheon City has designated and managed Lee Seunghun's gravesite as a city-designated monument since 2011.

Isung-hoon History Park Bird's-eye View [Provided by Incheon City]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.