(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seong Do-hyeon = Sister Lee Hae-in's 'Haeingeulbang', which is located within the Gwangalli Convent in Busan and has functioned as a spiritual and cultural sanctuary for the Korean diaspora around the world for nearly 30 years, will conclude its long history with the reconstruction of the building in October.
When the news of the closure, which was disappointing considering the historical weight of this space, was announced, the Korean community launched a petition urging the Office of Koreans Overseas to establish an 'integrated public archive of records' at the national level, saying that materials such as many letters of Koreans housed in Haein Geulbang could be scattered.
Although the storage of records related to Haeingeulbang is close to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or local governments, it is noteworthy that overseas compatriots knocked on the door of the Office of Overseas Koreans, the responsible ministry, as it is a condensed material of the vivid joys and sorrows of life of the 7 million diaspora around the world.
According to the Korean Community on the 6th, at the closing ceremony of the '2026 World Korean Presidents' Conference' held at Songdo Convensia in Incheon on the 29th of last month, the Korean Presidents of Africa and Asia delivered a 'petition for integrated preservation and public archive creation of Haeingeulbang diaspora records' to the Overseas Koreans' Office.
This petition began with the suggestion of Kim Ki-chun, president of the South Sudan Korean Association, who has continued his service and dedication in South Sudan. Here, the Korean community in India responded positively, including Lee Young-yeol, president of the Kolkata Korean Association, Sang-hyun Cho, president of the Korean Federation of India Associations, and Sangman Sim, honorary president of the World Korean Association (former president of the Chennai Korean Association).
The reason why Koreans who have been serving their mission in remote areas such as South Sudan, where the late Father Lee Tae-seok's devotion was instilled, and Kolkata, where Mother Teresa's love breathes, took the lead in petitioning is because Sister Lee Hae-in's comfort and document missionary work were deep and earnest in their difficult life in a foreign country.
They met with Kim Min-cheol, Deputy Director of the Overseas Koreans Office, and appealed for special interest from the government. In response, Deputy Director Kim agreed with the need to comprehensively preserve Sister Lee Hae-in's records and responded, "We will review the contents to see if there are any possible roles or support measures."
Haein Geulbang, where Sister Lee Hae-in has been writing poems and essays for decades and communicating with the world, has an unrivaled cultural status that goes beyond a simple personal study.
This is a place where numerous records are piled up, including handwritten letters, postcards, and faded black-and-white photos sent by overseas Koreans, including miners and nurses dispatched to Germany in the 1960s and 1970s, missionaries in remote areas of Africa, construction workers in the Middle East, and Koreans while missing their home country.
The traces of this exchange, in which Sister Lee Hae-in responded with warm replies and poetry to letters she wrote while enduring the loneliness and harshness she experienced in a foreign land, are also evaluated by academics as "an emotional archive that most vividly proves the modern history of immigrants in Korea and the lives of the diaspora."
However, since the reconstruction of the building and space maintenance of the Olivetano Saint Benedict Convent building in Gwangalli, Suyeong-gu, Busan, and space maintenance are scheduled to begin in earnest, Haeingeulbang has inevitably ended its operation.
According to building permit data released on the Suyeong-gu District Office website, the convent passed the building dismantlement review by the district office in February and received final approval for building expansion in mid-July.
Accordingly, the auxiliary space where Haeingeulbang is located will be integrated with the adjacent site and reborn as a 10m high building with two floors above ground and one floor underground. The reconstruction project, designed by an architectural firm in Seoul, is expected to begin the demolition and construction process within this month.
Considering past construction examples within the convent and the typical construction period, it is expected to take approximately one year to complete. However, even after the reconstruction is completed, Haeingeulbang will not be completely restored, and a simple space in the form of a small exhibition room or workroom will be prepared in the future.
Of course, Haein Geulbang's vast historical materials themselves will not disappear during this reconstruction process. To prevent data loss, the convent is separating and safely transferring existing books and records to the Pusan National University Library, Yanggu Humanities Museum in Gangwon-do, and Seongui Girls' High School in Gimcheon-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
The convent has made consistent efforts to preserve its vast archives intact for a long time, but there were realistic limitations for individual religious groups to take the initiative and actively request the government or the city of Busan to provide space.
Kim Jeom-bae, president of the Federation of African and Middle East Korean Associations, who participated in this petition, explained, “How to protect this vast diaspora heritage has now become a task that requires consideration of a solution at the national level.”
In the petition, the Korean Association Presidents stated, “We are disappointed about the situation in which records are dispersed and stored in various institutions,” and “We must ensure that these precious legacies are not dispersed and can be passed on to future generations at a national and integrated level.”
In particular, the Korean community president expressed deep gratitude for the convent's dedication so far, but emphasized that the government must now take the lead in seeking solutions to ease the burden on the religious community.
The Korean Association Presidents requested that the Overseas Koreans Office become the central point and form a public-private joint consultative body (TF) with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Busan City, and to mediate to create a permanent archive at the Busan Literary Museum, which is scheduled to be built in 2028, so that the materials scheduled to be scattered can be integrated and preserved as a public cultural facility.
Furthermore, he added, "Please support high-definition digital scanning of materials through the support of professional personnel belonging to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and institutionally prepare a special exhibition and collection space to commemorate the joys and sorrows of compatriots around the world within the 'Overseas Korean Education and Culture Center' to be built in the future."
Kim Young-geun, former director of the Overseas Korean Cooperation Center, said, “The letters that overseas Koreans from various countries shared with their home countries are living treasures of Korea’s immigration history,” and suggested, “Even if the issue of who manages the space or the department in charge is complex, the Office of Overseas Koreans needs to play an active role in discovering and preserving the historical assets of the diaspora.”
