Saving Sister Lee Hae-in’s “Haein Writing Room”
A GG Academy Project on the Geography of Hospitality
One of the outcomes of GG Academy: Geography of Hospitality is our effort to raise awareness about the future of Haein Writing Room (Haein Geulbang) in Gwangalli, Busan.
For nearly 30 years, this small room at the Olivetan Benedictine Sisters’ convent has been closely associated with Sister Lee Hae-in (Claudia Lee), one of Korea’s best-known poets and Catholic writers.
Since 1997, Sister Lee has used the room to meet readers, respond to letters, welcome visitors, and continue her literary and spiritual work. Over the decades, letters, photographs, gifts, and memories from people around Korea and the world have accumulated there.
It has therefore become much more than a writer’s room.
It is a place of memory, communication, comfort, and hospitality.
In 2026, plans were announced to remove the room as part of the redevelopment of the aging convent building. A small exhibition space dedicated to Sister Lee is expected to be included in the new building.
From the perspective of cultural geography, however, an exhibition room and a living place are not quite the same.
A meaningful place is created not only by objects but also by the memories, relationships, encounters, and stories accumulated there over time.
As part of GG Academy’s exploration of the Geography of Hospitality, we therefore asked a simple question:
Must an old place disappear completely in order to create something new?
Instead of preserving Haein Writing Room merely as a memorial, we proposed exploring ways to keep its spirit alive as a living cultural space—a place where literature, pilgrimage, youth mentoring, international exchange, and digital archiving could meet.
Professor Eje Kim, a cultural geographer and founder of the Great Geographic Society, explained:
“When you enter Haein Writing Room, you feel respected and welcomed. It is a place that gives people strength to continue with their lives.”
For GG Academy, this small room in Busan became an important case study.
The Geography of Hospitality is not simply about being kind to visitors. It asks how places can hold memories, welcome strangers, create relationships, and give people a sense of belonging.
Saving a place, therefore, does not always mean freezing it in the past.
Sometimes it means allowing its memories and relationships to continue into the future.
From GG Academy to Action
GG Academy began as a space for discussing geography, hospitality, pilgrimage, and the meaning of place.
The Haein Writing Room project represents an important next step: moving from discussion to engagement with a real place and a real community.
Through this project, we hope to encourage a broader conversation about how Korea can preserve meaningful everyday places while cities and institutions continue to change.
A place is more than a building.
A place is where relationships become memories.
And hospitality is one way those memories continue.
— Great Geographic Society (GGS)
GG Academy: Geography of Hospitality
(Source : Weekly Chosun 이해인 수녀 '해인글방' 사라진다 < 사회 < 기사본문 - 주간조선 )
