President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Ridderzaal building, where the Second Peace Conference was held in 1907, on Wednesday.

Yoon headed to the building in The Hague with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte following a luncheon, becoming the first South Korean president to make such a visit.

Yoon told Rutte that the building is a very significant place for South Korea as he explained that Emperor Gojong sent three envoys to the Ridderzaal in 1907 to attend the peace conference to reveal the unfairness of the Eulsa Treaty.

The deal, also known as the Japan-Korea Protectorate Treaty, adopted in 1905 deprived Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty to make it a protectorate of Imperial Japan.

Yoon then visited the Yi Jun Peace Museum commemorating the Korean diplomat who was one of the envoys dispatched to The Hague by the emperor, becoming the first South Korean leader to visit the museum.

The president said a free South Korea exists today thanks to the sacrifices made by patriotic martyrs who fought to restore national sovereignty and independence amid harsh conditions.