Sonjuk Bridge is a stone bridge used from the early Koryo period (918-1392).
It has been well-known as it is the place where Jong Mong Ju, a high-ranking patriotic official of Koryo was killed.
Sonjuk Bridge is located in Sonjuk-dong, Kaesong City, about 500m away from the Sungyangsowon to the eastward.
At first its name was Sonji Bridge. That Sonji Bridge was changed into Sonjuk Bridge is related with an incident happened in the end of Koryo period.
Jong Mong Ju’s house was situated on the west and the house of Ri Song Gye(Later he became the first king of the Joson feudal dynasty) on the east with Sonjuk Bridge between. Jong Mong Ju and Ri Song Gye were new reformists who were dissatisfied with the Buddhist politics of Koryo and insisted reform through Confucianism. Ri had an ambition to deprive the throne by relying on the Confucianism-supporting forces. Jong opposed it. Jong was an authorized man in politics and society. So Ri planned to win Jong over to his side and make him join his throne seizure plot.
One day Ri invited Jong to his house appeasing him and tapping his mind.
Jong was stubborn before Ri and his group. Jong cited a poem that says that he would keep loyal to Koryo even though he would be killed.
Listened to Jong’s poem, Ri and his group recognized that they could not change Jong’s mind. On his way back home from Ri’s house, Jong was beaten to death by Ri’s group on Sonjuk Bridge.
After Jong was killed, bamboo sprouts came out on the bridge. Bamboo was symbol of fidelity from olden times. At that time the people in Kaesong were so regretful over his death that they renamed Sonji Bridge as Sonjuk Bridge. On the bridge there are still black red marks, which, they say, are blood shed by Jong.
The bridge was made of granite—crossbeams were put on stone pillars and flat stones laid between the crossbeams. The bridge is 8.35 metres long and 3.36 metres wide.
In 1780 one of Jong’s posterities installed a parapet on Sonjuk Bridge and prohibited the passengers’ traffic.
Several relics were built beside Sonjuk Bridge in the period of the Korean feudal dynasty, thus conveying Jong’s patriotism and fidelity to posterities.
Around the bridge there are the memorial to Up(the saint) erected in 1641 in praise of Jong’s fidelity, the memorial to Hama(everyone should dismount a horse as it is a holy place,) Sonjuk Bridge memorial which was written by Han Sok Bong, the famous calligrapher of the Korean feudal dynasty and the memorial to the site of house of Koguryo government official Song Yo Wan who took care of Jong’s body.
President Kim Il Sung visited Sonjuk Bridge on several occasions and told to restore the original stream under Sonjuk Bridge and pile stones to adjust the stream, plant more trees and flowers around it, so that the working people can have rest while enjoying historic relics. Saying about the origin of Sonjuk Bridge, he instructed to preserve well the relics and remains left by our ancestors.
Sonjuk Bridge, one of the world cultural heritages is preserved in an original form thanks to the WPK’s correct policy for protecting cultural heritages of the nation.
