Jeonju

Jeonju lies on the plain of the Honam granary in southwestern Korea, where Gyeon Hwon made it the capital of Later Baekje. Under Goryeo it was a regional seat, and in 1182 its slaves and soldiers seized the city and held it for several months. In 1388 the town walls were raised, including the gate later called Pungnammun.

The Joseon dynasty treated Jeonju as the home of its royal clan, the Jeonju Yi: in 1392 it was made the Wansan Magistracy, and in 1410 the Gyeonggijeon shrine was built to hold a portrait of Yi Seong-gye. The town was also the seat of the governor of Jeolla, and in 1439 a records hall was set up here to keep a copy of the Veritable Records of the dynasty. When the Japanese invaded in 1592, the Jeonju archive was the only one of the four to survive; its volumes were carried off to the mountains and later preserved, and the court ordered them recopied after the war. Paper from the local mills was prized across Korea.