Jeoldusan Martyrs' Shrine & Yanghwajin Cemetery

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! It's Yul. We're on a rocky cliff above the Han River in Mapo. It's so peaceful now, but its name might give you chills. Jeoldusan. It means Beheading Hill.

But that wasn't its first name. People thought the cliff looked like a silkworm lifting its head, so they called it Jamdubong, Silkworm Head Peak. Below it was Yanghwajin, a busy ferry crossing. Cute, right? Then came 1866.

That year, the regent Heungseon Daewongun launched the harshest persecution of Catholics in Korean history, the Byeongin Persecution. Nine French missionaries were executed, and over the following years, an estimated eight to ten thousand Korean Catholics died. France answered with warships, and French ships came up the Han River all the way to this cliff. Furious that foreign ships had reached here, the Daewongun ordered Catholics executed on this very spot. Records name at least twenty-nine people killed on this hill, and that's how Silkworm Head became Beheading Hill.

A century later, for the 100th anniversary, Korean Catholics built a memorial church and a martyrs' museum here. In 1984, Pope John Paul II came to pray.

And the twist? Right next door is the Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery, opened in 1890. One gravestone, of the American educator Homer Hulbert, says he would rather be buried in Korea than in Westminster Abbey. Daebak.

Yul's tip! This is a memorial, so speak softly and dress respectfully, especially during Mass. From Hapjeong Station Exit 7, it's about a ten-minute walk.

Next, let's visit the church of a missionary remembered in that cemetery. Kaja!