Yoon Dongju Literary Museum

Yoon Dong-Ju Literature Museum/Literary Museum of Yoon Dong-Ju [윤동주문학관] is a small museum honoring the poet Yun Dong-ju or Yoon Dong-joo (1917-1945). Yun Dong-ju, who was born in China, is a renowned Korean lyrical poet, known particularly for his resistance poetry of Korea’s late occupation period. When he lived in Jongno and started to write his first poems, he often went to Inwang Mountain/Inwangsan where this museum was later erected in his honor. While studying in Kyoto in 1948, he was arrested by the Japanese police and charged for participating in the Korean independence movement. He died in prison at the age of 28. His poetry—centered around loneliness and despair and overcoming these—was only published posthumously in 1948, with his most notable work being Sky, Wind, Star, and Poem. “Foreword/Prelude”, seen engraved in a stone in One Poem A Day, is one of Yoon’s most famous poems. The poem recited in the drama, however, is “Jealousy” by Jung Ho-seung.

This museum that showcases Yoon’s handwritten manuscripts and photographs is located in Seoul’s neighborhood Buam-dong [부암동] in the Jongno District [Jongno-gu/종로구], directly at the Baegak Section of the Seoul Fortress Wall. Ko Eun-Seong’s Houseis located not very far from here. There is also a location videofilmed by a BTS fansite as this was a location previously visited by BTS member RM.