Neung-dong & Gunja: The Tomb Under Children's Grand Park

Most Seoul residents know Children’s Grand Park as the place their school took them on spring picnics: a zoo, some rides, a lot of lawn. Very few know what the lawn used to be. Before it was a park, it was a golf course. Before the golf course, it was the tomb of an empress. The neighborhood around it, Neung-dong, is still named after that tomb, and some of the tomb’s stone guardians are still standing on the grass. They are easy to walk past.

The park is free and the history takes about an hour on foot. After that, walk north toward Gunja Station. In the last few years Gunja’s low-rise streets have filled up with small independent places: a dumpling shop that sells in two daily batches, a bistro in a former beauty salon, a Shanghai-style dining room, a record bar. It is a different crowd from the student food around Konkuk University, and you will see very few other visitors.

Why is it called Neung-dong?

Because an empress was buried here. 능 (neung) is the Korean word for a royal tomb, so Neung-dong simply means “tomb village.” The tomb belonged to Empress Sunmyeong (순명효황후), the first wife of Sunjong, who would become the last emperor of the Korean Empire.

She died in 1904, before her husband took the throne, and was buried on a low hill in what was then rural Yangju, east of Seoul. Because she was a crown princess at the time, her tomb had the lower rank of a won and was called 유강원 (Yugangwon). When Sunjong became emperor in 1907, she was made empress after her death and the tomb was raised to a royal neung: Yureung. Villagers began calling the area Neung-gol, “tomb valley,” and the name stuck.

The tomb itself is long gone. The empress now lies with Sunjong and his second wife at Hongyureung in Namyangju, part of the UNESCO-listed Joseon royal tombs. But the tomb’s carved stones did not go with her. According to Korea Tourism Organization listings, about 20 pieces remain in the park: stone lanterns, a civil official, and the horses, sheep and tigers that once guarded the burial mound. Seoul lists them together as “Sunmyeong-bi Yugangwon Seongmul,” cultural heritage No. 134. A 2017 Seoul Shinmun report places them in front of Kkummaru (꿈마루), a building inside the park.

The other half of the name is less certain. Gunja-dong has no tomb. Seoul city’s media hub records a local legend that a royal procession stopped here for the night and the queen gave birth to a prince, so the place became 군자 (Gunja), “where a king’s son was born.” Treat it as a good story rather than a documented event.

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Was Children's Grand Park really a golf course?

Yes, for more than 40 years. According to Seoul city, the Gyeongseong Golf Club opened its course on the former tomb site in 1929. Korean golf historians call it the Gunja-ri course, after the old village name. A 2011 column in the Maeil Shinmun newspaper says Crown Prince Yeong, Sunjong’s younger half-brother, paid part of the construction costs. Korean golf writers often call it the country’s first 18-hole course.

The course had a rough war. It was turned into farmland during the Second World War. According to Seoul city it was wrecked during the Korean War, and the same Maeil column says it reopened in July 1954. Afterwards it ran as Seoul Country Club. In December 1970 the government decided to move the golfers out and give the land to the city’s children. The club still exists under a later name at a new course in Goyang, northwest of Seoul.

The park opened on Children’s Day, 5 May 1973. A 2017 Seoul Shinmun report says about 600,000 people came on the first day and another 300,000 the next. Its area was about 710,000 square meters at opening. After parts were sold off in 1975 and 1977, it is now about 530,000 square meters, according to the National Archives of Korea.

Is Seoul Children's Grand Park free?

Yes. Entry has been free for everyone since 2006, and that includes the zoo and the botanical garden. You pay only for the amusement-park rides, sports courts, stroller rental and parking.

🕰️ Seoul Children's Grand Park basics (Seoul Facilities Corporation)

Item	Details	Notes
Park hours	05:00–22:00, every day	Same at all four gates
Zoo	10:00–17:00	May change for weather or animal health
Admission	Free	Rides, courts and parking are paid
Main gate	Children’s Grand Park Station (Line 7), Exit 1	Closest to the tomb stones and Kkummaru
Rear gate	Achasan Station (Line 5), Exit 4	Useful if you finish near Achasan

Expect families on weekends and school groups on spring weekday mornings. A weekday afternoon is quietest. If you are traveling with children, our guide to Seoul with kids, from local parents has more parks that are free or nearly free.

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Where do locals eat around Gunja?

Mostly north of the park, around Gunja Station, where several newer independent restaurants, cafés and bars sit along Gunja-ro, Myeonmok-ro and the side streets off Neungdong-ro. A few good places are also near the park’s main gate. The busy student strip around Konkuk University Station is a separate scene; for that, see our Konkuk University and Hwayang-dong guide.

Ihwa Mandu (이화만두): A small takeout shop on Neungdong-ro near Gunja Station that makes its dumplings by hand. According to a September 2026 Harper’s Bazaar Korea feature, they come out in two batches, at 11:00 and 17:00, at ₩7,000 a pack, and quantities are limited. Arrive a little before the batch time. Eat them warm on a bench in the park, or take them home.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Jeongmyeon (정면): This is the only Gwangjin-gu restaurant in the Michelin Guide’s current Seoul selection. It is a Bib Gourmand, and it sits on the Children’s Grand Park side of the neighborhood. The owner-chef works alone behind a seven-seat counter and serves two bowls: baengmyeon (white noodles) and hongmyeon (red noodles, with spice you can adjust). Both use a broth of seafood, pork and chicken, topped with thin slices of pork, onion and red chili. The guide lists hours of 11:30–15:00 and 17:00–20:00. With seven seats, expect to queue, so come at opening.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Noeuljip (노을집): The name means “sunset house.” Marie Claire Korea featured it in April 2026 as one of Gunja’s new late-night places. It occupies a beauty salon that had been on Gunja-ro for about 30 years. The food is Korean anju (food meant to go with drinks): stir-fried pollock roe, braised beef shank and tendon, and bubbling hot pots for the table. Prices and hours: check on Naver.

📍 Open in Naver Map

Shuan (슈안): A second-floor room on Myeonmok-ro, just off Gunja Station, styled after 1920s Shanghai with art-deco decor. The signature is dongpo pork braised for six hours. There are also wontons and a numbing mapo-style stir-fry. It suits a slow dinner for two or a group sharing several plates. Prices and hours: check on Naver.

📍 Open in Naver Map

☕ More places around Gunja and the park (from 2026 magazine features and recent visitor reviews; check hours before you go)

Place	What to order	Price guide	Hours / closed	Nearest station	Map
Porco di Mare (포르코 디 마레)	Mortadella or jambon-beurre sandwich, cured meats	From ₩7,000	Check on Naver	Children’s Grand Park	📍 Naver Map
Bne (브네)	Thick katsu sando, ceviche; wine	Check on Naver	Check on Naver	Children’s Grand Park	📍 Naver Map
Cafe Lavender (카페 라벤다)	Neapolitan spaghetti, melon soda, morning plate	Check on Naver	Until 22:00 Fri–Sat	Gunja (Junggok side)	📍 Naver Map
Olika (올리카)	Jambon-beurre, pulled-pork sandwich, chocolate fondant; wine in the evening	Check on Naver	Check on Naver	Gunja	📍 Naver Map
Unid Ramen (유니드 라멘)	Clear-broth ramen with sous-vide chicken chashu	Check on Naver	Check on Naver	Gunja	📍 Naver Map
Gomgomtang (곰곰탕)	Pork gomtang (clear pork soup), spicy pork salad	Check on Naver	Closed Sun	Gunja / Yongmasan (Junggok-dong)	📍 Naver Map
Olday Disco (올데이디스코)	Draft beer, braised pork rib meat, beef-tartare gimbap	Check on Naver	Evenings	Gunja	📍 Naver Map
Love Love Deluxe Gunja (러브러브디럭스 군자)	Cocktails over LPs and a hi-fi system	Check on Naver	Nights	Gunja	📍 Naver Map
Achasan Harabeoji Sondubu (아차산 할아버지 손두부)	Soft tofu stew, house-made tofu, makgeolli	Inexpensive	06:00–22:00, closed Mon	Achasan	📍 Naver Map
Mexicali (멕시칼리)	Beef quesadilla, fish tacos, guacamole	Check on Naver	11:30–22:00	Achasan	📍 Naver Map

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Half-day route: from the park gate to Gunja

This route works any day the restaurants are open; Sunday is the riskiest because some places close. Start late morning and finish with dinner and a drink. Allow about five to six hours.

• 11:15, Children's Grand Park Station Exit 1: queue for Jeongmyeon before it opens at 11:30, or pick up sandwiches at Porco di Mare for a picnic.
• 12:30, main gate and Kkummaru: find the Yugangwon tomb stones on the lawn and the old clubhouse. Then walk the former fairways toward the botanical garden.
• 13:30, the zoo (open 10:00–17:00), or a slow loop past the musical fountain and the memorial statues.
• 15:00, coffee break: Bne on Gunja-ro, or head north to Cafe Lavender for melon soda and Neapolitan spaghetti.
• 16:45, Ihwa Mandu: be in line for the 17:00 batch of dumplings.
• 18:00, dinner near Gunja Station: Shuan for dongpo pork, or Noeuljip for roe and braised beef with a drink.
• 20:30, nightcap at Love Love Deluxe. Gunja Station has Lines 5 and 7 back into the city.

If you’d rather end on the other side, leave by the rear gate to Achasan Station and have tofu stew at Achasan Harabeoji Sondubu instead. For another royal tomb in an untouristy neighborhood, see our guide to Seokgwan-dong and Uireung. For a quiet residential district with its own food alleys, try the Banghak-dong local guide.