“Let’s meet at the church beyond the South Gate of Seoul Station.” Namdaemun Church, located across from Seoul Station, was a meeting place for refugees during the chaotic period following Korean liberation from Japanese rule and the ensuing Korean War. Before skyscrapers were built on the hill in Hoehyeon-dong, Namdaemun Church must have reached high...   Read more

The Taereung Training Center is now recognized as the only comprehensive training center in Korea. As a sports arena for members of national sports teams and athletes participating international sports competitions, as well as for ordinary citizens, it is contributing to the popularization of sports in Korea. The establishment of the Taereung Training Center was...   Read more

Construction of the present-day Incheon Jung-gu Office began on August 19, 1932. After a total of six modifications to the floor plan, the office building was completed on June 20, 1933, with one basement level and two above-ground floors. Jung-gu Office is located on Incheon’s Gaehang Nuri-gil, which is where many Japanese settled after they...   Read more

Near Hapjeong-dong, where Yanghwajin—one of the three docks along the Hangang (River)—was once located, a bridge was built in 1965 to connect Yanghwajin and Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeung-po. Except for the now torn down Gwangjingyo (Bridge), Yanghwadaegyo was the second bridge built along the Hangang (River), about 50 years after the construction of the Hangang Bridge. Therefore,...   Read more

San 76, Yeoksam-dong, Seongdong-gu (currently Gangnam-gu), Seoul. Starting out as the “Korea Taesudo Association” in 1961, the association changed its name to the “Korea Taekwondo Association” in 1965, finally becaming known as “Kukkiwon,” the realized dream of all Taekwondo masters, on November 19, 1971 . Over KRW 150 million was invested in the construction of...   Read more

Located a short distance from Daehak-ro, Seoul’s street of youth and culture, the Hyehwa-dong Rotary area is called the “home of faith” by Korean Catholics, as it is home to the Catholic University of Korea, the first Korean seminary, Dongsung High School (which is a Catholic institution), and Hyehwa Catholic Church, the central Catholic church...   Read more

Reverend Moon Ik-hwan was a South Korean minister who was active in the Korean independence and democratization movements. After his best friend, Yun Dong-ju, passed away in prison immediately prior to liberation, and another friend, Jang Jun-ha, died under suspicious circumstances in 1975, Moon was imprisoned six times. He spent a total of 12 years...   Read more

This house is where Sangheo (pen name) Lee Tae-Jun, a novelist who defected to North Korea, lived and wrote his works from 1933, when he built the house, to 1946. As a founding member of the Guinhoe (the Circle of Nine), a literary club formed in 1933 by nine writers who pursued belles-lettres rather than...   Read more

Jeoldusan Mountain is located near the Hangang River in Hapjeong-dong, where the Gangbyeonbukno meets Subway Line 2. Also referred to as Jamdubong (literally meaning “silkworm head” in English), as it is said to look like a silkworm raising its head high, Jeoldusan used be a famous place in the east of Yanghwajin, a port on...   Read more

Some 80 years ago on the Anam-dong Campus of the present-day Korea University, a western-style school building, designed and financed by Koreans, was established. In 1932, Kim Seong-Su, also known by his childhood name “Inchon,” took over Bosung College, visited universities around the world, and dreamed of establishing a college in Korea. He brought his...   Read more

In 2012, Seoul City restored part of the Seoul Fortress Wall and the Namsan Mountain ridge as part of the Namsan Renaissance Project. Korea’s first Children’s Center stands at the end of the mountain ridge that connects the site of a playground to Baekbeom Square, still preserving its old glory. In 1970, when it was...   Read more

With Japan’s cultural control in the 1920s, restrictions on the press were eased and modern libraries emerged in Korea. The Gyeongseong Prefecture Library (the former Namsan Public Library), Korea’s first public library, was established amid such social circumstances. A result of Japanese colonial reform policy, the Namsan Public Library was a haven for Korean people...   Read more