My Sassy Girl|Seojangdae — The Command Post That Looks Down on the Filmed Palace

Seojangdae sits on the ridge of Paldalsan above Hwaseong Haenggung. Jeongjo used the western command post to watch drills in the fortress below. The camera location on a December morning puts you at 37.2808 north, 127.0105 east, 150 metres up, with the reconstructed palace roofs in the bowl of the hill.

SBS shot the court interiors of My Sassy Girl in that palace. From Seojangdae you see the whole compound the way a sentry would have: Sinpungnu facing east, the axis running back to Bongsudang, the city spilling past Paldalmun. The drama never needed a crane for this view. The hill already had one.

Walk the fortress wall from the Haenggung ticket office up the western stairs. The pavilion is small. The floorboards creak. On a clear day Suwon's towers sit beyond the old brick.

Do not come only for a selfie against the rail. Come to understand why the production could film a whole Joseon court inside one city's walls and still have a working town on every side.