The Relationship Between Jeongdong and Jeongneung-dong

Jeongdong in Jung-gu, Seoul, and Jeongneung-dong in Seongbuk-gu are place names with the same roots, connected by the power struggles of the early Joseon Dynasty and the forced relocation of Queen Sindeok's tomb (Jeongneung).
​In 1396, after his second queen, Queen Sindeok, passed away, King Taejo Yi Seong-gye broke the principle that royal tombs must be located outside the capital and established a large-scale royal tomb within the Hanyang city walls, in the area where Deoksugung Palace and the British Embassy are located today. The name of this tomb was 'Jeongneung (貞陵),' and the village where the tomb was situated naturally became known as 'Jeongneung-dong.' Yi Seong-gye could not forget Queen Sindeok; he would shed tears morning and night while looking toward Jeongneung from Gyeongbokgung Palace, and he would only eat his morning meal after hearing the temple bells ringing from the tomb site.
​However, after Yi Seong-gye passed away, Taejong Yi Bang-won, who ascended the throne through the Strife of Princes, began a political revenge against his stepmother. Harboring deep resentment because Queen Sindeok had attempted to appoint his youngest brother (Grand Prince Uian, Bangseok) as the Crown Prince during her lifetime, Yi Bang-won demoted Queen Sindeok from Queen to a concubine in 1409. Subsequently, using the pretext that "having a tomb within the capital violates established laws," he exhumed the grave and forcibly relocated it to Saeulhan-ri in Yangju (present-day Jeongneung-dong, Seongbuk-gu), which was a remote forest area outside the four main gates of Hanyang at the time.
​In this process, the names of the two neighborhoods diverged. Since the original site of Jeongdong where the royal tomb once stood lost its tomb, the name was shortened to 'Jeongdong (貞洞),' removing the character for 'tomb (陵).' On the other hand, the forested area in Seongbuk-gu where the forcibly removed tomb was newly enshrined was left neglected for a long time. However, when Queen Sindeok was posthumously reinstated as Queen during the reign of King Hyeonjong of Joseon (1669), the site regained its formal status as a royal tomb and became today's 'Jeongneung-dong (貞陵洞).'
​To summarize, Jung-gu's Jeongdong is the 'original site' where Jeongneung was first established, while Seongbuk-gu's Jeongneung-dong is the 'place where Jeongneung was driven to settle' due to political retaliation. Although they are spatially distant, both neighborhoods share the history of royal conflict from 600 years ago within their names, both preserving the character 'Jeong (貞)' from Queen Sindeok's posthumous title.