Why visit Korea for Sandglass
Sandglass (모래시계, SBS, 1995) ran for 24 episodes from 9 January to 16 February 1995. Written by Song Ji-na and directed by Kim Jong-hak, it follows three friends — Park Tae-soo (Choi Min-soo), who becomes a gangster; Kang Woo-suk (Park Sang-won), who becomes a prosecutor; and Yoon Hye-rin (Go Hyun-jung), the daughter of a casino owner — through the political turmoil of 1970s–80s Korea. Lee Jung-jae plays Hye-rin’s bodyguard, Baek Jae-hee. Its finale drew 64.5% in Seoul, among the highest in Korean drama history, and its Gwangju Uprising reenactment, intercut with archival footage, remains one of Korean television’s most memorable moments.
What makes Sandglass worth traveling for three decades later is that its most famous place is still a working station by the sea. Trains still stop at Jeongdongjin, the beach is still beside the platform, and the pine by the tracks still carries the drama’s name. The other two stops ask for a different kind of visit: a memorial building in Gwangju at the heart of the history the drama portrays, and a thousand-year-old Jincheon bridge whose link to the drama rests on fan sources alone. Three provinces, three kinds of place — plan each as its own day.
Gangneung: Jeongdongjin Station
What the drama shows here. In the drama’s best-known scene, Hye-rin waits at the seaside platform before she is arrested, according to Gangneung City and VisitKorea. The Korea Herald describes the same moment: a woman waiting at the platform with the ocean waves behind her, taken into custody just as her train arrives. A pine by the tracks is still called the Sandglass pine.
What to see. Jeongdongjin Station was built in 1962. VisitKorea traces the village’s arc: a mining town of as many as 5,000 people, then a small fishing village of under 2,000 after the government’s coal-industry reforms, then a place where trains rarely stopped in the early 1990s for lack of passengers. Sandglass changed that. The station gained popularity after appearing in the drama and is now widely famous for its sunrise view. VisitKorea describes it as the train station located closest to the ocean in the nation. Arrive early if you can: sunrise over the East Sea is the reason most visitors come, and the platform sits right beside the beach.
Sandglass Park is not a filming location. The park beside the beach was built later, in 1999, by Gangneung City and Samsung Electronics to commemorate the millennium. Its centerpiece is a giant hourglass — 8.06 meters across, 3.2 meters wide, 40 tons, holding 8 tons of sand — that takes a full year to empty and restarts at midnight on New Year’s Day. Gangwon Tour explains the symbolism: the sand at the top stands for the future, the flowing sand for the present, the golden round shape for the rising sun of Jeongdong, and the parallel rails for the eternity of time. Beside the hourglass, a time museum set inside a freight train displays antique clocks and timepieces, per the Korea Herald. Visit the park as a companion to the station, not as a filming location.
How to get there. Check Korail for trains to Jeongdongjin on the Yeongdong Line, or take the KTX to Gangneung and plan the last leg on Naver Map (English UI). The station is in use, so check Korail before you go onto the platform.
What the drama shows here. The drama’s May 1980 Gwangju scenes used the former South Jeolla Provincial Office, with the city lending its main roads for filming, according to Kyunghyang Shinmun. Only that one press source names this building as a filming location, so it is listed here as reported, not confirmed.
What the place is. The former provincial office on Geumnam-ro was the main site of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980, according to Korea.net. Six buildings, including the former offices, were preserved when the site was reborn as the National Asia Culture Center (ACC), which opened to the public on 4 September 2015. The complex covers 135,000 square meters — the biggest cultural complex in Korea — with about 90 percent of its major buildings underground, the surface dug 25 meters down to create space. The ACC’s Culture Exchange, in the former provincial office building itself, opened to the public in 2018, per the ACC’s own webzine.
Visiting. Come to this stop as a memorial site first and a drama location second. The building’s history — the uprising the drama reenacts — is the reason it matters. Visit respectfully, keep noise down, and check the ACC’s site for opening hours before you go. The office stands in central Gwangju; check Korail for trains to Gwangju, then plan the last leg with the Kakao Map and Naver Map links on the card.
Jincheon: Nongdari Stone Bridge
What fans connect here. Fans connect the Nongdari stone bridge in Jincheon to the drama — specifically, to its first-kiss scene — but only fan sources say so: Wikipedia and a travel bloggers’ fam-tour post. No official or press source confirms a Sandglass scene here, so the bridge is listed as fan-spotted. Visit it for what it verifiably is: one of Korea’s most remarkable old bridges.
What the place is. Jincheon County’s tourism page describes a stone bridge 93.6 meters long, built of natural stones on the Saegeumcheon stream in front of Gulti Village, Gugok-ri, Munbaek-myeon. According to the county, citing the 1932 record Sangsanji, General Lim built it in the early Goryeo Dynasty. Its piers are red stones stacked like fish scales, with deck stones laid on top — stone only, no lime — a construction method that has held through heavy rain. It was designated Local Tangible Cultural Property No. 28 on 30 December 1976. The bridge is widely described as South Korea’s oldest stone bridge.
How to get there. Jincheon County lists intra-city buses from Jincheon-eup to Munbaek 9 times a day, first bus 06:20 and last bus 19:30; recheck times before you go. Plan the trip with the Kakao Map and Naver Map links on the card, and check Jincheon County’s tourism site for walking paths around the bridge.
Plan your trip
These three places sit in three different provinces, so do not try to chain them in one day. Base yourself in Gangneung for Jeongdongjin, in Gwangju for the former provincial office, and in Jincheon-eup — the county’s own directions give the route from Cheongju — for Nongdari. For Jeongdongjin, check Korail for trains on the Yeongdong Line, or take the KTX to Gangneung and plan the last leg on Naver Map (English UI). For Gwangju, check Korail for trains to Gwangju. For Jincheon, use the county bus times above or plan the route on Naver Map or Kakao Map.
Combine with nearby guides. Jeongdongjin pairs naturally with another Gangneung coast stop: see our Goblin in Jumunjin guide for the Jumunjin Breakwater, north up the same coast. For the history behind the Gwangju stop, see our 1987 in Mokpo guide, about a film set during the June 1987 democracy movement that followed the events Sandglass portrays.
FAQ
Do I need to have watched Sandglass to enjoy these places?
No. Jeongdongjin is a working seaside station and a sunrise spot in its own right, the Gwangju building is a major memorial site, and Nongdari is a thousand-year-old bridge. Knowing the drama adds a layer, but none of the three depends on it.
Is Jeongdongjin Station still in use?
Yes. It is a working station on the Yeongdong Line. Check Korail before you go onto the platform, and expect the area around it to be busier and more built up than in 1995.
Is the Sandglass pine still at Jeongdongjin Station?
Gangneung City and VisitKorea still describe a pine by the tracks known by the drama’s name. The station is in use, so check Korail before you go onto the platform.
Was Sandglass Park a filming location?
No. It is a later attraction near the station, built in 1999 by Gangneung City and Samsung Electronics to commemorate the millennium, around a giant hourglass. It is worth a visit, but it is not where the drama filmed.
Can I visit the former South Jeolla Provincial Office?
Yes. The building is preserved as part of the National Asia Culture Center complex in central Gwangju. Visit it as a memorial site first: keep noise down, and check the center’s site for opening hours.
Did Sandglass film the first-kiss scene at Nongdari Bridge?
Only fan sources say so. Wikipedia and a travel bloggers’ fam-tour post connect the bridge to the scene, and no official or press source confirms it, so the bridge is listed as fan-spotted rather than confirmed or reported.
Can I do all three places in one day?
No. Jeongdongjin is on the east coast, the Gwangju building is in the southwest, and Nongdari is in North Chungcheong Province. Plan each as its own day, or pair Jeongdongjin with the Goblin breakwater at Jumunjin on the same Gangneung coast.
How we checked
A spot is confirmed when two independent sources name it as a filming location; it is reported when the sources trace back to a single origin; it is fan-spotted when only fan sources connect it to the drama. Jeongdongjin Station is confirmed: Gangneung City, VisitKorea, and the Korea Herald all describe it as the Sandglass station. The former South Jeolla Provincial Office is reported: a single Kyunghyang Shinmun retrospective names it, and a second source has not confirmed it yet. Jincheon Nongdari is fan-spotted: only Wikipedia and a bloggers’ fam-tour post link it to a scene. Place facts come from the official tourism pages — VisitKorea and Gangwon Tour for Jeongdongjin, Korea.net and the ACC for Gwangju, Jincheon County for Nongdari — and drama background from Wikipedia’s Sandglass entry. We do not list private homes or hospitals, and we do not claim interior filming or exact bus routes without a source.
Last checked: Oct 18, 2026 for spot status and practical details. We re-verify spot status periodically and update when places close, change, or gain new sources.
Photos: All three spots and the hero image carry a verified CC-licensed photo of the real place (CC0 or CC BY-SA 4.0, credited on each card). No drama stills are used anywhere in this guide.
Sources
All sources for this guide
Accessed Oct 3, 2026 (Asia/Seoul) unless noted.
- Gangneung City tourism portal — Jeongdongjin
- VisitKorea — Jeongdongjin Station
- Korea Herald — Home of ‘The Hourglass’ looks to expand tourism reach (Jul 4, 2014) (re-opened and read in full Oct 18, 2026)
- Gangwon Tour — Sunrise: Jeongdongjin (accessed Oct 18, 2026)
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Sandglass retrospective (May 14, 2015)
- Korea.net — Asia-wide cultural center opens to public (accessed Oct 18, 2026)
- National Asia Culture Center — Stories of May, Remembered in Our Hearts (webzine) (accessed Oct 18, 2026)
- Jincheon County — Jincheon Nongdari bridge (accessed Oct 18, 2026)
- Wikipedia — Sandglass (TV series) (accessed Oct 18, 2026, drama background only)
- Wikipedia — Jincheon Nongdari Bridge (accessed Oct 18, 2026, fan-spotted filming link only)
- VisitKorea — Jeongdongjin Sandglass Park
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