The VIP guest house formerly operated by Ilhae Foundation in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province is being opened to the public for the first time in 27 years.

On Tuesday, the Korea International Cooperation Agency announced that the exhibition marking 20 years of Korea-Vietnam diplomatic relations and 1,000 years of exchange between the two nations will be held at the facility starting Wednesday.

The exhibition will run for six months.

The KOICA gained management rights over the facility from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in October, and has refurbished the guesthouse into four exhibition halls and a caf.

Ilhae Foundation, named after former President Chun Doo-hwan’s pen name, was established in 1985 in memory of those who were killed in North Korea’s assassination attempt on Chun at the memorial of Myanmar’s independence fighter Aung San in 1983.

The guest house is located in on 86,000-square-meter grounds that contain a three-hole golf course, tennis courts and swimming pool. The facilities were, however, closed in April 1988, following allegations that Chun had intended to use it as his private residence after he stepped down from office. At the time, the facilities had only been opened to the media on one occasion.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)