Korean county, home to Vietnamese prince's descendants, builds $260M plan around their 800-year story

About 800 people gathered in Bonghwa, a rural county in eastern South Korea, on Oct. 17 to mark 800 years since Vietnamese Prince Ly Long Tuong arrived in Korea, where his descendants still live.

The ceremony at Chunghyodang, a centuries-old building in the mountains, drew officials from both countries, The Korea Herald reported.

"We are gathered here to retrace the historic relationship between Korea and Vietnam that spans over 800 years," Bonghwa County Mayor Choi Gi-young said.

Bonghwa, in North Gyeongsang Province, is an ancestral home of the Hwasan Lee clan, whose members trace their lineage to Ly Long Tuong, known in Korea as Lee Yong-sang. Only about a dozen clan members still live in the county of some 28,000 people, but their ancestors' story is now the centerpiece of a major development plan.

In August, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups designated part of Bonghwa as the K-Vietnam Valley Special Zone. The county plans eight projects worth a combined 347.6 billion won (US$260 million) on about 877,000 square meters between 2026 and 2030.

Planned facilities include a Vietnamese cultural center, a Korea-Vietnam history experience center, a cultural street and visitor accommodations, alongside tourism facilities around a local reservoir and smart farms.

The designation also exempts the zone from some rules on immigration, land use and housing, to help draw foreign residents and workers. About 47% of Bonghwa's residents were 65 or older as of September, Gyeongbuk Maeil reported.

At the ceremony, Bac Ninh, the northern Vietnamese city where the Ly dynasty originated, donated a pair of six-meter-long, Ly-style dragon statues, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

North Gyeongsang Vice Governor Yang Geum-hee said Vietnamese nationals make up three in every 10 registered foreign residents in the province.

Vietnam's ambassador to South Korea, Vu Ho, said he hoped the valley would become a living heritage site where people could learn about history, rather than just a construction project or a tourist destination.

Traditional Korean-style houses at the foot of a mountain. Illustration photo by Alex Ko/Unsplash

Born in 1174 as the seventh son of Emperor Ly Anh Tong, Ly Long Tuong is believed to have fled Vietnam as members of the former royal family faced persecution after the Ly dynasty, which had ruled since 1009, gave way to the Tran dynasty in 1225.

Surviving official records of Goryeo, the Korean kingdom of the time, make no mention of him. According to genealogical records kept by the clan, he sailed from the Than Phu estuary aboard one of three large ships, passing waters near Taiwan before reaching Hwasan in Hwanghae Province, now part of North Korea, in 1226.

Goryeo King Gojong is said to have granted him refuge. An inscription in Ongjin, Hwanghae Province, and clan accounts say he later helped build fortifications and led local resistance against Mongol forces in 1253, reportedly holding out for five months.

The clan's link to Bonghwa began when the prince's second son took up a government post in Andong and moved to the region, according to clan records. Chunghyodang honors Lee Jang-bal, a 13th-generation descendant who died at 19 fighting Japanese invaders during the 1592-98 Imjin War.

Clan members later dispersed across the country. Statistics Korea's 2015 census, the latest official count by ancestral clan, recorded 1,237 members of the Hwasan Lee clan in South Korea.

In the mid-1990s, the Vietnamese government invited senior clan members to visit, and they were welcomed by Do Muoi, then-general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Vietnam also extended to clan members settling there rights on immigration, taxes and business comparable to those of its citizens.

In 2009, Vietnam's president approved citizenship for clan member Ly Xuong Can and his family.

"The designation has laid the institutional groundwork for linking the 800-year relationship between Korea and Vietnam to Bonghwa's future," Choi told The Korea Herald.