Discover the Hidden Gems of Pyeongchang: A Guide to the ‘Welcome to Dongmakgol’ Filming Location

Translation result [Herald Economy (Pyeongchang)=Reporter Ham Young-hoon] On the 26th, as the Danjong Culture Festival neared its finale, the festival and the film The Man Who Lives with the King felt inseparable this year.

The movie — which echoed the festival’s themes — became a global box office hit, and that helped draw both domestic and international visitors to the celebration.

During the festival (April 24–26), visitors streamed into Yeongwol. To dodge the long line at Cheongryeongpo — which can only admit about 5,000 people a day — some hiked up Dong-euljisan to visit Jangneung, then moved on to attractions like the National Paleozoic Geopark’s Seondol, Yoseonam, or the Radio Star Museum.

A few film-obsessed visitors — or those who’d dug up extra travel tips — quietly slipped over to Mitan-myeon in Pyeongchang.

Mitan’s Yulchi-ri is home to the Welcome to Dongmakgol filming site. You’ll find the village just after entering southern Pyeongchang, a short drive north of Yeongwol.

That set doubled for a scene in The Man Who Lives with the King, where Um Heung-do (played by Yoo Hae-jin) meets a tiger while hunting a roe deer. Startled, he bolts, tumbles into a valley, and blacks out.

When he wakes, he’s in Norugol. The moment when An Jae-hong’s character — the village chief — and the townspeople discover the dazed Um was filmed on the Yulchi-ri Dongmakgol set.

It’s also the place where three soldiers — South Korean, North Korean, and a UN soldier — who stray from their units end up living alongside villagers who don’t know war, helping the community and learning to coexist.

In the end, Yoo Hae-jin, An Jae-hong, and the people of Yeongwol came together over Danjong’s sorrow, and Dongmakgol once again stood as a symbol of unity.