From a guesthouse in Incheon
to a musalla on Jeju.

Nasir Hong-suk Seong (성홍석) was born in Korea. Before becoming Muslim, he spent years running a small guesthouse in Incheon, where roughly a third of his guests were travelers from Muslim-majority countries. “They turned out to be incredibly kind and respectful,” he says. In 2023 he converted.

Earlier in 2025 he moved to Pyoseon, on the southern coast of Jeju Island, to take over his grandfather’s fish farm. The region holds roughly 1,500 migrant fish-farm workers, about half of them Muslim, and the only masjid on the island is more than an hour away in Jeju City.

His first project after moving was not the farm. It was a musalla. He spent a month converting part of his grandfather’s home into a small prayer space — carpeted, softly lit, with copies of the Qur’an in several languages. “When I moved in, I had nothing. Not even furniture or a pillow. This musalla was the first thing I made.”

That musalla became Fajr Jeju, a non-profit now expanding to a larger location nearby. He hosts retreats for international visitors through Salam Jeju, and works with the Markethalla halal grocery service.

Earlier: Korean Special Forces (NCO). Competitive boxing. Drums at a music college.