It was a private educational institution built by small and medium aristocrats of landowner extraction.

This shrine has two boardinghouses standing face to face with a hall and a ground between them. The hall with wooden columns and gable roof had been used as a site for giving lectures on the Confucian scriptures.

In August Juche 76 (1987), Chairman Kim Jong Il acquainted himself with the real state of the old buildings in Kaesong City and gave an instruction on keeping the Confucian shrine well.

The Sungyang Confucian Shrine was registered as a world cultural heritage in June Juche 102 (2013).