1 · POSITION
The gaeksa was the official guest house of a Joseon county: the building where travelling officials stayed and where the king was represented in his absence. The register holds it as the state’s house for its guests — the guest of the court did not sleep in a tavern. [1]
2 · ONE GUEST HOUSE
The guest house of Paengseong county, in what is now Pyeongtaek, shows the form. Its central hall held the memorial tablet that stood for the king, to which the district head bowed twice a month; the rooms on either side, the east and west wings, lodged officials from other districts. [1]
3 · ITS HISTORY
Small at first, it was rebuilt on a large scale under King Hyeonjong, between 1659 and 1674, repaired in 1760 and again in 1801. Only the main building and its gate survive; the dragon heads on their roof ridges marked the dignity of the office. It was designated a tangible cultural property in 1989, and its village is still called Gaeksa-ri. [1]
4 · BESIDE THE JUMAK AND THE YEOK
The register keeps three Korean houses for three kinds of traveller: the gaeksa for the official and the envoy, the yeok station for the courier and his horse, and the jumak for everyone else. [1]
5 · ⚑ CANDOUR
⚑ Checked on 22 October 2026. That the gaeksa received foreign envoys is confirmed by the Sangju account. The line from the gaeksa to Samsung is the register’s reading: the Yeongbingwan, the state guest house of the 1960s, became Samsung’s Hotel Shilla in 1979, and the note now says that and no more. Only one example is described here. [1–3]
Sources & Further Reading
Sources checked 22 October 2026.