The temple was built on the northern tip of the shores of Lake Chon on the top of Mt. Paektu in 1906 by the Korean people.

In the early of the 20th century the Japanese imperialists intensified acts of aggression in a more vicious way as the days went by and Korea and her nation stood at the crossroads of survival and ruin. Deeply worried over it, Koreans used to visit the temple and pray to the King of Heaven for appearance of a great man born of Heaven who would defend the destiny of the country and the nation.

The temple was destroyed gradually as it was not preserved and managed properly owing to the harsh repression and obstructions committed by the Japanese imperialists for obliterating the spirit of the Korean nation before the liberation of the country. Now remains only the site of the temple.

Various books including the book "Paektusandungchokgi" (Mt. Paektu-climbing note) published in 1931 carried photos of the Jongdok Temple and items written by visitors after looking it round.

According to the data, the buildings of the temple were all built of wood. It had 99 rooms. The inner hall was located in the center of the main building around which the rooms were arranged trebly in the octagonal form.

President Kim Il Sung described the history of the Jongdok Temple in his reminiscences "With the Century" so that the patriotic spirit of the Korean people associated with the temple was reflected in the history of the nation and is being conveyed to the generations to come.