More than five centuries after death kept them apart, King Danjong and Queen Jeongsun have been symbolically reunited through flowers.
Officials have transplanted wildflowers, including lilyturf and asters, from Sareung in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, the burial site of Queen Jeongsun, to Jangneung in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, where King Danjong is laid to rest. The effort, accompanied by a traditional memorial rite, seeks to bridge the long separation of a royal couple whose lives were marked by exile and loss.
Danjong, who reigned from 1452-1455, was forced from the throne by his uncle, King Sejo, and banished to Yeongwol. His queen, Jeongsun, was also expelled from the palace soon after. Married at just 15, she remained queen for little more than a year.
She spent the rest of her life in hardship, living outside Dongdaemun in what is now Seoul and enduring more than 60 years alone after Danjong’s death. In the Jongno district, a story persists that she dyed fabrics purple to make a living — a color now evoked in the flowers planted beside her husband’s tomb.
The project aims to connect the couple’s story through the living medium of flowers, offering a gesture of healing to a history steeped in sorrow while finding new ways to engage with Korea’s cultural heritage, the Korea Heritage Service said. The flowers were cultivated at a tree nursery located within Sareung.
The initiative comes amid renewed public interest in Danjong’s story, fueled by the box office success of the film "The King's Warden," which depicts his final days in exile. Cultural heritage officials said the surge in attention helped inspire the event.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
