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Start
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Hwangmae Mountain
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Theme Park
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Gagopa Sikdang
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Jeongyang Wetland
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Punggyong
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Sonkalguksu
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Sorigil
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Seongbo Museum
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Haeinsa Temple
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Gobau Sikdang
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Finish
The Best Filming Studio in Korea, ‘Hapcheon Cine Theme Park’ 합천 영상테마파크
One of the most famous tourist attractions in Hapcheon would be Hapcheon Cine Theme Park. The reason this artificial theme part got so popular is because it’s a famous filming site for many dramas and movies. The most popular movies would be ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War’, ‘Sunny’, ‘The Attorney’ and ‘Jeon Woochi: The Taoist Wizard’ and the dramas would be ‘Bridal Mask’, ‘Light & Shadow’ and ‘East of Eden’.
Hapcheon Cine Theme Park is located in a topographically good place so it’s known that the dramas or movies would be a hit if they’re filmed here. So under the good spirit, we headed to the ticket office that looks like a train station in a movie.
Most new movie studios charge us 10,000 won but this one is run by Hapcheon-si so that it’s kinda cheap.
As soon as you finish ticketing and get out the door, you’ll see the streets of Seoul. You can take a slow walk or ride in a carriage. From the ticketing office, you can enter the alley on the left connecting to the right and you’ll be able to see Seoul in order of time from the 1920s to 1980s.
The first thing I saw was houses of Japanese style wooden houses built in the 1920s during Japanese colonial era. Jeoksangaok(敵産家屋) means ‘assets of enemy in occupied territory’ that reappears the alley of Jeoksangaok that were easily found in Yongsan, Gunsan and Pohang during the Japanese colonial era. It’s decorated in Japanese style just like a village in Japan so it’s visited by Japanese people for field trip or shooting.
Inside the alley, there’s a place called Gyeonggyojang. Real Gyeonggyojang in Seoul was designated as tangible cultural asset No.129 in 2001 as it was used as an official for Baekbeom Kim Ku. Beautifully decorated garden was impressive.
Next to Gyeonggyojang, there stood a glamorous Korean-style house. This is called Yihwajang(梨花莊) in which the Korean-style house where the President Lee Seung-man used to live in Yihwa-dong in Seoul is reappeared. Yihwajang is indeed a Korean food restaurant where you can have a home-made meal at a responsible price. But! It’s closed on Mondays.
Old alleys were reappeared where the normal people used to live in the 1920s till 1960s. They’re all made for shooting but old telephone poles, walls and bricks were like real that made me feel like I am walking in a backstreet in Seoul before I was born.
There’s a coffee shop next to the village. Couples were taking pictures in front of this old yet pretty signs. ‘Yeoro Coffee Shop’ sounds friendly.
It’s a church that was often on TV drama. I remember I was sad to watch a lovely couple getting married here where nobody knows them because they were not supposed to be together.
The building to the front is the Japanese Government-General of Korea that used to rule Korea and it’s the same place where Kim Hye-su committed a terrorist act by throwing a lunch box bomb in the movie titled Modern Boy. Currently this place was used as Jongno Police Station in the movie Bridal Mask.
In front of this Japanese Government-General of Korea, you’ll see the bustling street of Gyeongseong(old name of Seoul).
As a bustling street, various shops including bars, restaurants, tailor shops, hospitals and coffee shops all looked old. It was kinda funny to see the signs and read the phrases in each building. Watch them closely and remember them!
The rail on the floor is for streetcar. It’s parked normally and it runs only when there’s a shooting. Have you seen any scene of streetcars in a drama? That’s filmed here in Hapcheon Cine Theme Park.
And you can see a filming site that’s frequently used for war movies behind the building of Japanese Government-General of Korea building.
Burnt buildings, collapsed buildings from bombs, and abandoned military trucks looked like the war just happened. It looks so real.
Many of you would find this familiar. There are a few filming sites for war movies in Korea so this place was used for the drama titled ‘Jeonu’ and movies titled ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War’, ’71: Into The Fire’ and so on. I would like to show you the movie scenes but I can’t because of copyright issues.
Back to the Gyeongseong Street, you’ll see the most glamorous building called Bando Hotel. It’s reappeared as well. Bando Hotel is the first commercial hotel that used to be where Lotte Hotel is currently located in Sogong-dong but it was pulled down. The first floor of this building was used as a meeting place for politicians and businessmen that it was on the movies ‘Bridal Mask’ and ‘Kyung Sung Scandal’.
Ta-da~ Doesn’t this place look familiar to you? It’s Daeheung Theater. Most of the theater scenes in movies or dramas were filmed here. Among them, you might remember the fight between Park Sang-min and the others in the movie ‘The General’s Son’.
Most of the buildings are not allowed to get inside but Daeheung Theater is open to the public with old posters hung on the walls and a resting place for tourists. Plus, there’s a 3D movie theater for special events.
Right next to Daeheung Theater, there’s Seoul Station, former Gyeongseong Station, and inside there, you’ll see the photos of movies taken here, actors, actresses, traffic lights for streetcars, and trains displayed. Based on the location of this station, Seoul in the 1920s to 1960s is reappeared in the left area and the right area shows you the old Seoul Jongno region in the 1970s to 1980s.
Right past Seoul Station, you’ll see the underpass of railroad bridge at Namyeong Station. I could see that they made it look like as real as possible since Seoul Station is actually close to Namyeongdong railroad bridge.
This brings out the memory since I know how the underpass of railroad bridge at Namyeong Station, which still exists, used to look like when I was a kid.
It’s a railroad bridge from afar but if you look at it closely it’s just a coloured wooden plate. Not only this bridge, cement of walls or bricks of buildings look real but they are just coloured woods when you take a closer, look which is fun.
If you pass Namyeongdong, you’ll see Jongno Street that looks almost the same as real. The tiled-roof building to the front is Wongudan, Jecheondan where they used to hold memorial services for sky, and this place was on the movie titled Sunny when the characters had a physical fight with each other among protesters. Man, I could remember that scene.
Across the street from Wongudan, there’s an old restaurant called Pimatgol which was on Jongno street and you’ll notice it’s a rice soup restaurant in the movie ‘The Attorney’. This place does not simply show the restaurants, it also actually has real restaurants selling old lunchbox, noodles and coffees. Unlike other filming sites, Hapcheon Cine Theme Park has real restaurants, coffee shops and stores for tourists to enjoy food while they take a look around.
Seun Mall is reappeared here where I have a special memory as well. This used to be center of electronics distribution in Korea a long time ago so I often visited there. Well, it looks almost the same as the real one.
Another pleasure you’ll find here is that you can play old games in old arcade. You can enjoy old games like galaga, 1945 and so on once you put coins in it.
On the street that a car would pass by any second, there are street trees, streetlamps and a sign that points to Namdaemun(the South Gate). That old red brick building here is the Central Post Office and the building far away is a youth hostel called Theme House. This used to be Taeseong Building, a filming site for the drama ‘East of Eden’ and there are three places where you can sleep inside Hapcheon Cine Theme Park. When the park is closed, you can take a walk in quiet old streets of Seoul where there’s nobody but streetlamps.
As we finished taking a looking around old streets in Jongno, we saw a train station and a train. This place must be used a lot as well right? By the look of it, it kinda looks like the one in ‘TaeGukGi: Brotherhood of War’ where the people were fleeing.
I could see inside the train as well. Old train made of woods…friendly.
Leaving the train station, you’ll see an electric shop, general store that you could find at least one in any village. This one strangely sells steamed buns with red bean paste filling and dumplings.
And lastly, you’ll see Chuncheon Bus Terminal across the street from the exit that was on the drama ‘Love Rain’ where the main characters, Jang Geun-seok and Yuna, left for Chuncheon. I remember their innocent and charming look when they missed the last bus here and the building is used differently in each movie or drama although it has a sign of Myeongsim Hospital right now.
There are approximately 150 movie/drama filming sites in Korea and the biggest number of movies/dramas was filmed in Hapcheon Cine Theme Park. The reason it’s popular is that it’s the only one that reappears Seoul streets as real as possible. So it makes people feel they’re traveling in a time machine and walking in the past or in the movies. Not only that, you can have a nice meal in old restaurant and sleep in one of the houses in the movies.
Address : 418, Gaho-ri, Yongju-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, Hapcheon Cine Theme Park (경상남도 합천군 용주면 가호리 418, 합천영상테마파크)
Telephone : 055-930-3754
Operating Hours : No holidays, Summer : 09:00~ 18:00(Mar.~Oct.), Winter : 9:00~17:00(Nov.~Feb.)
Only, accommodations, restaurants and stores are closed on Mondays
