 The idea for the Korean Bell Garden was conceived of by Jeung-Hwa Elmejjad-Yi, who moved to the United States from Korea when she was a teenager.She founded the Korean American Cultural Committee in 2005 – two years after the centennial of the beginning of Korean immigration to the United States – as a means through which to realize her idea.In 2006, her organization reached an agreement with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to have the garden built in Meadowlark Botanical Gardens.