South Korea’s National Heritage Administration has proposed adding four sites to the national register of cultural heritage, including a former pharmaceutical factory in Anyang designed by architect Kim Chung-up during the early part of his career. The announcement, made on October 12, also covers Gwangju Theater, the former Daejeon Civic Hall, and a group of Japanese military aircraft hangars at Altteureu Airfield in Seogwipo, Jeju. The former Yuyu Industrial Anyang Factory dates to the late 1950s, a period when South Korea was building up its industrial base. The complex combined facilities for receiving raw materials, manufacturing medicines and conducting research. The heritage authorities highlighted the research building in particular, pointing to its projecting columns and beams, along with distinctive window frames that show characteristics associated with Kim Chung-up’s early architectural work. Kim, who studied under the French architect Le Corbusier, is regarded as one of the major figures in modern Korean architecture.
His work helped introduce new approaches to structure and urban design at a time when the country was rebuilding and rapidly industrializing. The Anyang complex is therefore significant not only as an old industrial site, but also as a record of how architecture and manufacturing developed together in postwar Korea. Gwangju Theater carries a different kind of importance. Opened in 1935 by a company established with Korean capital during the Japanese colonial period, it is currently described as the country’s only surviving single-screen theater. Its continued existence offers a rare link to Korea’s early cinema culture, when movie theaters served as important public spaces for entertainment, education and community life. The former Daejeon Civic Hall was built in the 1930s during the relocation of the provincial government and Daejeon’s transition into a city administration.
Authorities say it is the only remaining civic-hall building of its type from that period in the province. In Jeju, the proposal would rename the existing “Namjeju Aircraft Hangars” heritage designation to better reflect the wartime history of the Altteureu Airfield site. Eight additional hangars would be added to the ten already registered. The structures are reminders of Jeju’s role in Japan’s military infrastructure during the final years of colonial rule. The four proposals will now be open to public comment for 30 days before review by the National Heritage Committee. Final registration is not automatic, but the process signals a broader effort to preserve Korea’s industrial, architectural, cinematic and wartime history alongside its older royal and religious heritage.