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Seoul Korea

INTRODUCTION

Seoul is the capital of South Korea, located in the northwest of the country. It is the largest city in South Korea with over ten million people, and also one of the world's largest cities.

HISTORY

Seoul has been Korea’s capital almost since its founding, through many kingdoms and political changes. The Baekje Kingdom used the site as its capital city, Wiryeseong, in 18 BCE. During the several-centuries-long Three Kingdoms Era, the Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla kingdoms vied for power over the Korean Peninsula, so Seoul changed hands frequently.

During the 14th century under the Joseon Dynasty, Seoul became a powerful city with a population of about 100,000. Korea took an isolationist policy that lasted from this period until the late 19th century.

Once it became open to foreigners again, Seoul became a leader in modernization in East Asia, implementing technologies like trolleys and telephones. However, Japan took interest in the area and annexed Korea in 1910. Seoul remained the capital of the colony, but Japan controlled Korea until the end of WWII. The USSR took control of Korea’s northern half, and the US took the southern one.

The Korean War (1950-3) devastated Seoul. Since the city is so close to the border between North and South Korea, it was taken over four times, switching back and forth between the two warring states. The tumult destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings, but refugees from North Korea kept flooding the city after the war’s end. Over half of Seoul’s ever-growing population had no home.

South Korea has spent a lot of energy reconstructing Seoul since the war. The city has become a modern metropolis, home to almost a quarter of the country’s population. All that work paid off: Seoul hosted the 1988 Olympics. Today, South Korea as a whole has a GDP in the top 20 in the world.

ATTRACTIONS

Five Grand Palaces of the Joseon Dynasty

National Museum of Korea

Bongeunsa

Lotte World

RESTAURANTS

Tosokchon – This little restaurant has locals lining up at the doors. Despite the limited menu, the Samgyetang (chicken and ginseng soup) caused even the former South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun to become a regular.

LODGING

W Hotel – Staying at the W Hotel is like living in a modern art museum. Sit on egg-shaped chairs, dine surrounded by funky sculptures and relax in pools lit with rainbow colors. The rooms have a sleek, modern design accented, but not overwhelmed, by colorful touches like bold blue linens or a fiery red bathtub.

PERSONAL STORIES