Seochon was a center of refined tastes and literature for low-level government officials and people in the late Joseon dynasty. The house of Yi Sang-bom, one of the six major Oriental painters, is located at the end of the twisting alley in Seochon. From 1942, when the great painter bought a hanok next to his...   Read more

In the northeast area of Gyeongseong (as Seoul was known during Japanese Colonial rule), the National Industrial Institute, the first public school in Korea, was established in 1907. Japan pushed ahead with its plan to set up a two-year industrial school that would be separate from the existing four-year agricultural-commercial-industrial school, after curbing higher education...   Read more

It is expected that Yeongdeungpo Prison, which opened under the name Bucheon Prison in 1949, will soon be gone. The prison is planned to be demolished to make way for a large residential and commercial complex. Many well-known people were incarcerated at Yeongdeungpo Prison, a 67,696-square-meter land with 14 prison sections with an 800-persons capacity...   Read more

On the grounds of Choong Ang High School, located in corner of Gye-dong in Bukchon, there is an old antique-looking building that seems to have been frozen in time since Bukchon first established. The school was founded by patriots at the end of the Korean Empire, when Japan clearly expressed its intention to invade the...   Read more

Horace Grant Underwood (Korean name: Won Doo-woo) was the first Underwood to form a relationship with Korea. He entered Korea through Jemulpo on April 5th, 1885. After arriving in Korea as a missionary, he established the Underwood Hakdang (meaning “school” in Korean) through an orphanage project, as well as the Gyeongsin School, providing a remarkable...   Read more

After the opening of the Gyeongin Expressway, the first highway in Korea, in April 1969, the 1970s witnessed the beginning of the “express bus era.” Of particular importance is the Express Bus Terminal in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, in Seoul. This place is the main terminal for buses bound for, or coming from cities on the Gyeongbu,...   Read more

Itaewon is the first special tourist district in Seoul. Originally serving as a place for only US soldiers, it has been transformed into a symbol of multiculturalism in the 2000s. Even in a place as exotic as this, there is one particularly exotic alley on the top of a hill. On the hill, you can...   Read more

In 1923, the Japanese Governor-general of Korea established the Yangcheon Irrigation Association in the fertile Gimpo Plain as part of the plan to build more irrigation facilities across the country to secure Joseon’s land and increase the agricultural yield in line with the Rice Products Proliferation Plan. The Drainage Pump Station of the Yangcheon Irrigation...   Read more

Under the orders of Korea Central Intelligence Agency, an engineer corps was sent halfway up Bukhansan, the main mountain in Seoul, to build a large-scale hanok (traditional Korean house). This building was named Samcheonggak. The Park Chung-hee regime, which had been negotiating with North Korea to conclude the South-North Joint Communique, built Samcheonggak to host...   Read more

The Gunjari Golf Course built in 1927 in Neung-dong, Gwangjin-gu, was the first golf course built in Korea. It was established by Youngchin, the last prince of the Korean Empire and the founder of Korea’s first golf club, Gyeongseong Golf Gurakbu (Club), after relocating the royal tomb of Empress Sunmyeong, wife of King Sunjong, to...   Read more

At 16, Wonseo-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, stands the house of Korea’s first western painting artist, Goh Hui-dong. He lived here for forty years from 1918. He was born to a father who was a translator-turned government official in favor of enlightenment, majored in French at Hanseong Language Government School and started his career as a government...   Read more

Nestled in the corner of an intersection in Sadang-dong, where Namtaeryeong Road, leading to Gwacheon City in Gyeonggi Province and Nambusunhwan-ro cross, there is an old building with the designation of Historic Site No. 254. The former Belgium Consulate, this building now houses the SeMA Living Arts Museum. At the time of its construction, most...   Read more