Jeong Mong-ju Statue

The Jeong Mong-ju Statue was erected on October 16, 1970, and is located in the green area at the entrance of Yanghwa Bridge in Hapjeong-dong. Poeun Jeong Mong-ju was a civil official and scholar of the late Goryeo period (1337–1392). He placed first in the civil service examination in 1360 and served as the Great Scholar of the Umun Hall. He excelled in diplomacy with Ming China and Japan, and made significant contributions in suppressing Japanese pirates and the Jurchen tribes. He also established charitable granaries to aid the poor, promoted Confucianism, and was well-versed in Neo-Confucianism. He sought to rationalize social ethics and morality and remained loyal to Goryeo, but was sacrificed as the dynasty's fortunes waned and new forces emerged to lead the state. His poem 'Dansimga' and many other Chinese poems have been handed down. He was also outstanding in calligraphy and painting, and was one of the 'Three Euns of Goryeo.' In the first year of King Taejong (1401), he was posthumously appointed as Yeonguijeong and posthumously enfeoffed as Ikyang Buwongun, and during the reign of King Jungjong, he was enshrined in the Confucian shrine.