Century After Independence Uprising, Rural Town Finds New Life in a Café. This photo shows the entrance and main building of Café 329.
SEOCHEON, Oct. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – In March 1919, cries of “Manse for Korean independence” rang out across a market square in Seocheon County, South Chungcheong Province, as more than 2,000 villagers rallied against Japanese colonial rule. More than a century later, that historic site has taken on a new life — as a café breathing vitality into a community long in decline.
The café, named “329” after the date of the uprising, opened in September 2023 as the first coffee shop in Masan Township, a farming community of just 1,388 people, more than half of whom are over 65.
With young residents leaving and empty homes multiplying, the township’s residents’ council and Seocheon County officials purchased a long-abandoned house, stripped it down to its frame, and rebuilt it with support from a national rural revitalization fund.
A Cup of Coffee, a Dose of Hope: How a Village Café Revived Community Spirit
Today, the café is both a local landmark and a social hub. It retains rustic elements — a soot-stained cauldron, a courtyard well, and traditional clay jars — while offering signature drinks like blueberry smoothies and mugwort lattes, the former celebrating Masan’s local harvest festival.
Last year, the café welcomed nearly 23,000 visitors, most of them residents of Seocheon, generating nearly 100 million won ($72,000) in sales and a modest profit.
An old well and traditional crock jars behind the main building of Café 329.
Beyond business, Café 329 has become a modern-day “sarangbang,” or communal living room. It hosts music concerts, town hall meetings, and programs that provide free drinks to elderly and vulnerable residents.
Younger villagers, too, are finding reasons to stay. One manager, who returned from Seoul after years of city work, described the café as a place where she could find community and a slower, more fulfilling pace of life.
The Mulbeodeul Music Concert held at Café 329.
The initiative recently earned recognition at a national rural innovation contest, praised for transforming a vacant property into a cultural anchor. Officials are now considering converting nearby empty houses into craft workshops and learning spaces, creating a small cultural district around the café.
“This is not just about attracting outsiders to the countryside,” said Lee Byung-do, head of the township’s social cooperative. “It’s about ensuring young people who already live here can find purpose and opportunity. By turning abandoned homes into spaces for work and gathering, we can make Masan a sustainable community where generations thrive together.”
The old appearance of the Café 329 building, which had been abandoned for over 10 years.
Image credit: Yonhap, The Masan-myeon Residents’ Council Social Cooperative / photonews@koreabizwire.com
