About this page
The King’s Affection (연모, KBS 2021) is a historical drama about a crown prince hiding a secret identity, and it filmed where Joseon history actually happened: a famous garden in Namwon, a Confucian academy in Seocheon, and two heritage sites inside Jeonju Hanok Village. Unlike the built sets that dominate many period dramas, every stop in this guide is a real place you can walk — a garden pond, an academy courtyard, a shrine’s bamboo forest and a school’s lecture hall — and each one is labeled with exactly how strong its evidence is.
Namwon: the garden
Gwanghallu Garden is the guide’s anchor and its only confirmed stop. VisitKorea’s Hallyu page names the garden as a setting for historical dramas including The King’s Affection, and Korea JoongAng Daily (Jan 26, 2022) independently names it as a filming site for KBS’s The King’s Affection (2021). The garden is famous in its own right: it holds Gwanghallu Pavilion, a National Treasure, and is the setting of the classic tale of Chunhyang. Go for the pavilion and the pond, and know that the drama filmed in a place that was already a landmark, not a set dressed for the cameras.
Seocheon: the academy
Munheonseowon Confucian Academy is the guide’s quiet stop, and its evidence is thinner: it rests on VisitKorea’s Hallyu page alone, which says the academy, built over 400 years ago, has been featured in several period dramas including The King’s Affection. That keeps it at reported, and this guide claims no scene there. What the page does establish is the visit itself: traditional architecture, a tranquil pond and a pine forest behind the academy, at their best when the crape myrtle and lotus bloom. Treat it as a heritage visit with a drama connection, not a scene hunt.
Jeonju Hanok Village: the shrine and the school
The two Jeonju stops share one source and one walk. Korea JoongAng Daily (Jan 26, 2022), quoting a Jeonju City announcement, reports that The King’s Affection was shot at Gyeonggijeon Shrine and Jeonju Hyanggyo in Jeonju Hanok Village, and singles out the shrine’s bamboo forest as especially popular with visitors as a photo spot. Both stay reported on that single press source, and neither claims a specific scene. Together they make the practical core of the guide: two heritage sites a short walk apart, inside a village that is already Jeonju’s main draw, with the drama as the reason to look twice at courtyards you would walk anyway.
Reading the four sites
At Gwanghallu Garden, the pavilion itself carries the longer history: VisitKorea dates its construction to 1419 and its rebuilding to 1638, and lists the garden — pavilion, pond and two further pavilions — as Historic Site No. 33. At Munheonseowon, VisitKorea describes two parts, an educational area and a shrine, and dates the school to 1594, its burning in the Imjin War, and its rebuilding in 1610. In Jeonju, Gyeonggijeon was founded in 1410 to hold King Taejo’s portrait, renamed in 1442, and restored in 1614 after wartime destruction, with a main hall, stone walls and a bamboo forest. None of this changes the drama evidence: the filming labels stay as stated above.
VisitKorea notes Gyeonggijeon sits within Jeonju Hanok Village, a district full of food and entertainment, with many hanbok rental shops nearby. It calls the shrine a registered Historic Site beloved for its elegance and lush tree groves in the middle of the city.
Getting there
The four stops sit in three cities, so treat them as three legs, not one walk. The Jeonju pair is one Hanok Village walk; Namwon and Seocheon are separate legs, each best reached by checking local bus or taxi options on arrival. For rail times, check the Korail timetable and local options before you go; no train range is stated here because neither approved range covers these routes. For other historical-drama trips on this site, see Twenty-Five Twenty-One in Jeonju, The Red Sleeve and Love in the Moonlight in Suwon.
How we checked
Gwanghallu Garden is confirmed: VisitKorea’s Hallyu page (last updated November 2024) and Korea JoongAng Daily (Jan 26, 2022) each name it as a King’s Affection filming site independently. Munheonseowon Confucian Academy is reported on the single VisitKorea Hallyu page. Gyeonggijeon Shrine and Jeonju Hyanggyo are reported on the single JoongAng article quoting Jeonju City’s announcement. Scene details appear only where a cited source states them, and no source used here names a specific scene, so none is claimed. Transit, hours and fees are stated only where a cited source gives them. How we label evidence is explained on our methodology page.
Sources
- VisitKorea: Filming Locations for Romantic Period K-dramas (Gwanghalluwon Garden, Munheonseowon Confucian Academy)
- Korea JoongAng Daily: Local filming locations draw tons of tourists (Jan 26, 2022)
- Korea Heritage Service: Gyeonggijeon Shrine (address only)
- VisitKorea: Gwanghallu Pavilion
- VisitKorea: Munheonseowon Confucian Academy
- VisitKorea: Gyeonggijeon Shrine
%20%E2%80%94%20kdramapins.com){kind=link}
.JPG){kind=link}