Family Temple Trip to the Seoul, South Korea LDS Temple

Today we traveled from Songdo to Seoul to walk the grounds of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Temple. The Korea LDS temple is located in a busy neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea.

We always try to visit the local LDS temple when we go on our travels.

It offers us permanence no matter where in the world we are, and a chance to feel connected to other members of our faith. It’s always interesting to see how people all over the world practice our same held beliefs while maintaining their own unique cultural practices.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Korea LDS Temple

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Seoul Temple
500-23 Changcheon-dong
Seodaemun-gu, Seoul
Phone: 82-334-9100
Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday 10am – 7:40pm | Closed Sundays & Mondays
English Sessions Available Saturday Mornings

How to Get to the Seoul, South Korea LDS Temple

Though Seoul is barely 45km away from Songdo, it is a massive city. Traveling throughout it’s many provinces and neighborhoods takes a long time, and is exhausting!

From Songdo, where we are living at the Incheon Global Campus, you can take one subway transfer and arrive at the temple in just over two hours.

• Dark blue Subway line to the Gyeyang Station
• Transfer to the light blue line to Hongik Station
• Exit 5

Hongik Station is a major station in the heart of Seoul, and also the meeting place for a Korea DMZ tour of North Korea!

Exiting the Hongik Station, the temple will be to the East, perched at the top of the hill just two blocks away from Exit 5.

Where is the Korean LDS Temple?

The Korea LDS Temple is quaint and located on a small patch of land on the top of a hill. On the grounds you’ll find a distribution center plus church building, a guest house, a small garden and the Korea LDS temple itself. 

It’s easy to spot the spires and the gold Captain Moroni of the Korea LDS Temple, once you get far enough up the hill. 

The Korean saints built their temple in the middle of a congested and busy suburb of Seoul. It’s literally in the heart of the city and accessible for the Saints to gather here as it’s so central. It’s close enough to Namdaemun Market, the Teddy Bear Museum and Namsan Tower if you wanted to make a day of it. 

There is also a popsicle store located just down the hill. It’s the only popsicle store we found selling brownie ice cream sandwiches. At the risk of sounding sac religious, a trip to the Korea LDS Temple is worth it just to come to this popsicle store.

What Can you Do at the Temple?

With children, the most we could do is view the grounds and step inside the lobby. We came to partake of the Holy Spirit felt within the grounds, and view this magnificent temple.

The temple also holds ordinance sessions for members with a recommend. If you wish to attend an English session, they are held the first session every Saturday. 

The kids did a great job of being quiet and enjoyed the chance to sit inside the lobby for a few minutes. It’s quite small and there is not much to see from the lobby. We were able to feel the spirit nonetheless and say a little prayer. 

The twins were preparing for their baptism here in Korea during our visit and it was a beautiful experience for them as they anticipated this special day.

Distribution Center in Seoul 

We were also able to visit the Distribution Center at this temple, which was sparse at best. The center sold a few magazines and church materials and very few clothing items. It’s a good thing we didn’t plan on getting baptism clothes here, because they had none.

We picked up a copy of The Friend magazine, even though they only had the previous months edition.

The Distribution Center is located on the bottom floor of the chapel located adjacent to the temple.

History of the Seoul, Korea LDS Temple

This temple was built in 1985, just 33 years after the very first Korean member was baptized into the church. Prior to the temple being built, members had to travel across the ocean to Hawaii to perform ordinance work. The political climate made this extremely difficult, in addition to the economic strain this placed upon members. 

Before the temple was built, an institute building was located in the same place as the temple now stands.

The Seoul Temple is the only temple in Korea.

 Korean Latter Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has grown exponentially over the past 67 years in South Korea.

The first member in South Korea was Kim Ho Jik. In 1951 he was sent to America to learn about nutrition and found himself at Cornell University in New York City. It was there that he learned not only about nutrition, but about the word of wisdom that goes hand in hand with nutrition as well.

Jik was baptized in America and returned to South Korea to spread the gospel. There are now over 88,000 members in this tiny country.

We’ve been told the guest house also has a large play area for children so parents can trade off between sessions, though we weren’t able to confirm it during our visit.

Have you visited the Seoul temple in Korea, or other temples outside your home? We were also able to visit the Tokyo LDS temple and the Hong Kong LDS Temple!

Check out our experience attending a Korean LDS primary for three months learning Korean hymns, and meeting new friends at a Korean primary activity!