Waegwan Abbey, Benedictine monastery in Chilgok County, South Korea

Waegwan Abbey, formally the Abbey of Saints Maurus and Placidus, is a Benedictine monastery at Gwanmun-ro 61 in Waegwan-eup, Chilgok County. Its abbey church, built in 1975, has a pale front wall, a dark wooden cross with a ring at its centre, polished grey stone floors and light-brown wooden benches along a central aisle. A Jann organ of 41 registers was installed in 2010.

Twenty-six Korean monks who survived the dissolution of Tokwon Abbey in North Korea and Holy Cross Abbey in Yanji, China, fled to South Korea and formed a community in Busan. Archabbot Chrysostomus Schmid sent the Swiss monk Timothy Bitterli, who arrived in 1952 and met them in Daegu; property was bought at Waegwan and the monastery was completed in 1955. It became a simple priory in 1956 and an abbey on 17 February 1964, with Odo Haas as first abbot.

The abbey is dedicated to Saints Maurus and Placidus, both disciples of Saint Benedict. Its monks follow the rule "Ora et Labora" (pray and work): besides the daily round of prayer, they run the Benedictine Publishing House (Bundo), a carpentry and metal workshop, and candle and stained-glass studios, and farm rice in nearby paddies. Their handmade goods are made in Korea rather than imported.

The abbey stands at 61 Gwanmun-ro, Waegwan-eup, Chilgok County, North Gyeongsang. Its own retreat house hosts about 2,300 guests a year, and the daily round begins with rising at 05:00 and Mass at 06:30, with Gregorian chant Mass at 10:30 on Sundays. Guests join the liturgy and the monks' work; the abbey also runs retreat houses in Busan and Seoul.

The abbey church holds a three-manual organ with 41 registers, built by the German firm Jann Orgelbau and installed in 2010. The monastery also runs a carpentry workshop and metal workshop making church furnishings, plus candle, sculpture and stained-glass studios, and farms rice paddies nearby.