100 Fun Facts About Seoul

Seoul's history traces back to 18 BC, when it was founded by which of Korea's Three Kingdoms?

Baekje's capital Wiryeseong is thought to have stood inside the earthen ramparts of Pungnap Toseong in southeastern Seoul.

The word 'seoul' is a native Korean common noun meaning what?

Because it has no Chinese characters of its own, Chinese speakers long called the city Hànchéng.

Under Japanese colonial rule from 1910, the city was renamed what?

The walls were pulled down and the city was demoted to an ordinary town of Gyeonggi Province.

Which founder of the Joseon dynasty chose Hanyang, today's Seoul, as his new capital in 1394?

Hanyang was planned as a geographic embodiment of Korean Confucianism; Gyeongbokgung was finished the next year.

During the Korean War, Seoul changed hands between the two sides how often?

It fell to the North in June 1950, was retaken by UN forces that September, fell again to Chinese and North Korean troops and was recaptured once more.

Which planned town south of Seoul has been South Korea's de facto administrative centre since 2012?

Ten of 18 ministries sit there, but the Constitutional Court ruled in 2004 that Seoul must remain capital by 'unwritten constitutional custom'.

Which river bisects Seoul into northern and southern halves?

Cycling paths run its full length through the city, and parks such as Banpo and Ttukseom line its banks.

Which mountain forms Seoul's northern edge?

Four smaller peaks ring the old walled centre.

Gyeongbokgung, the first Joseon royal palace, was established in which year?

The Hangul alphabet was created there in the 15th century; the palace burned in the 1592 Imjin War and was not rebuilt until the 19th century.

Which king led the creation of the Korean alphabet, Hangul, at Gyeongbokgung during his 1418–1450 reign?

His statue stands on Gwanghwamun Plaza; the palace flourished under him.

Which invasion completely burned Gyeongbokgung and all Seoul's palaces in 1592?

Funding shortages meant it stayed a ruin until Gojong's reign; most kings preferred a secondary palace anyway.

Which of Seoul's five Joseon palaces became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997?

Established in 1405, it and its neighbour form the 'East Palace'; its Secret Garden was long beloved of the monarchs.

How many 'Grand Palaces' did the Joseon dynasty build in Seoul?

All of them lie in the Jung district and its neighbour to the north.

The N Seoul Tower stands on the summit of which mountain in central Seoul?

The 236-metre tower topped out in 1971 but only opened to the public in 1980; love locks began appearing in 2006.

The Lotte World Tower, opened in 2017, is how tall?

Its 123 storeys make it the tallest building in the OECD; its rooftop Sky Bridge is at roughly the same height as One World Trade Center.

Which architect designed the curving design plaza at the east gate, opened in 2014?

The neofuturist landmark helped Seoul win a World Design Capital title and includes restored sections of the city wall.

The Cheonggyecheon stream in downtown Seoul was restored in 2005 after decades buried beneath what?

The project began in 2003, cost over 386 billion won and drew heavy criticism before becoming a favourite.

Which mayor of Seoul, later president, initiated the Cheonggyecheon restoration in July 2003?

The 10.9-km stream had carried an elevated highway since 1976.

Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics in which year?

The Games ran from 17 September to 2 October with 159 nations, the most of the Cold War era; the city had hosted the Asian Games two years earlier.

What animal was Hodori, the mascot of the Seoul Olympics?

Kim Hyun designed the friendly Amur tiger; the official song 'Hand in Hand' was written by Giorgio Moroder and performed by Koreana.

Which countries boycotted the Seoul Olympics alongside North Korea?

The mass boycotts of 1976, 1980 and 1984 were largely over; South Korea finished fourth with 12 golds.

Which Canadian sprinter won the Seoul 100 metres in 9.79 seconds before a doping disqualification?

The scandal remains the most notorious of the Games.

Seoul World Cup Stadium hosted what at the 2002 FIFA World Cup?

Seoul staged three matches in total; the stadium is now home to FC Seoul.

The Seoul subway is described as the world's largest by track length, at roughly how many kilometres?

More than 8 million passengers ride it daily, and it offers 4G, Wi-Fi and DMB television inside the cars.

Seoul's Line 1 subway replaced which form of transport along the old Bell Street in the early 1970s?

The first streetcar lines dated from the Korean Empire, when Seoul was the first East Asian city with electricity, trolleys, water and telephones all at once.

Seoul's main international airport, opened in 2001 on Yeongjong island, is called what?

The older airport now handles domestic and short-haul flights; the AREX rail link joins both to the main railway terminus.

Which wealthy Seoul district, famed for Psy's 2012 hit, has double the city's apartment prices?

Its name literally means 'south of the river'; the 'Gangnam Style' video was shot there, including on the ASEM Tower.

Gangnam, south of the Han and held back in the 1970s, was constrained mainly by what?

The Hannam Bridge and the Gyeongbu Expressway, both finished by 1970, unlocked the area under Park Chung-hee's plans.

Which island district is Seoul's third central business district, known for securities trading?

It is the finance and asset-management hub, while the southern district is known for tech, luxury and private education.

Which Seoul-based soju brand makes the world's best-selling spirit, ahead of Smirnoff?

Hite, which merged with Jinro, and Oriental Brewery are the top beer producers.

Namdaemun, Seoul's south gate, lost its status as the oldest wooden gate after what happened in 2008?

It reopened after full restoration in 2013; the neighbouring Namdaemun Market is Seoul's oldest continuously running market.

Which market, named after the east gate, is South Korea's largest wholesale and retail centre?

Yongsan Electronics Market, meanwhile, is the largest electronics market in Asia.

Bukchon Hanok Village and Namsangol Hanok Village preserve what?

Hanok are the traditional wooden homes; Insadong nearby is the city's art and antiques market.

Which downtown street, meaning 'Bell Street', holds the Bosingak pavilion and its great bell?

Bosingak's bell is rung at New Year.

The Seoullo 7017 Skypark, opened in 2017, spans diagonally over what?

It converted an old road overpass into a walkway garden.

Seoul was named World Design Capital in which year?

The design plaza at the east gate was a main reason for the designation.

How many Fortune Global 500 companies are headquartered in the Seoul Capital Area?

Their tech hubs include Gangnam and Digital Media City; the metro area's economy ranked sixth in the world in 2022.

Seoul's metro economy ranked sixth in 2022 behind New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris and which other city?

The area holds more than half of South Korea's population.

Seoul's population peaked above 10 million and has been declining since which year?

It stood at about 9.6 million in 2024, though the wider capital area keeps growing.

The largest green space in the city, built for the 1988 Games in Songpa District, is what?

The ancient earthen wall of Mongchon Toseong lies inside it.

In 2005 Seoul changed its official Chinese name from Hànchéng to what?

The new name is a phono-semantic match using the character for 'head' or 'first'.

Under the Korean Empire proclaimed in 1897, Seoul was temporarily called Hwang Seong, meaning what?

Joint Korean–US enterprises then brought electricity, trolleys and water; the palace lights came from the Edison company.

Seoul was the first city in East Asia to introduce electricity in a palace, installed by a firm named for which inventor?

Electric street lights followed a decade later.

Which two Seoul teams won the K League and KBO League titles in the same 1990 season?

Lucky-Goldstar FC is today's FC Seoul; the double has happened twice in the city's history.

The 1946 US military charter made Seoul what, mirroring US cities independent of any county?

The Korean translation 'special free city' became 'special metropolitan city' in 1949, a status Seoul alone still holds.

Which airport opened in 1939 as a Japanese army airfield and later became Seoul's short-haul airport?

It opened to civil aircraft in 1957 and flies to Tokyo Haneda, Osaka Kansai and Shanghai Hongqiao among others.

Which Seoul district, once aimed at foreign tourists and US soldiers, later became popular with Koreans?

Myeong-dong and Hongdae are the other big nightlife and shopping magnets.

Which of these UNESCO World Heritage Sites lies within the Seoul Capital Area?

Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Namhansanseong and the Joseon Royal Tombs are the other four.

Into how many 'gu', or districts, is Seoul divided?

They range from under 140,000 to 630,000 residents, with Songpa the most populous and Seocho the largest in area.

Roughly how many artifacts are in the collection of the National Museum of Korea in Seoul?

It is one of 115 museums in the city, four of them national and nine run by the municipality.

How many lit beacons on the Namsan mound meant a battle had started at the border?

Smoke by day and fire by night relayed signals mound to mound across the country to the peak above the capital and on to the palace; the system ran from 1394 to 1894.

Which of Seoul's four great gates was demolished under Japanese rule and never rebuilt?

The west gate lives on only in the name of the district and the colonial prison that still stand there; the other three great gates survive or were restored.

Heunginjimun, the east gate, is the only one of Seoul's gates with what defensive feature?

The east side of the city sat on low ground and was the most exposed, so the gate got a curved barbican called an ongseong; the present structure dates from an 1869 rebuild.

The name and vertical signboard of Sungnyemun were meant to shield the capital from which element?

Gwanaksan to the south was thought to be shaped like a flame under feng shui; the board was written by Prince Yangnyeong, eldest son of King Taejong.

Sungnyemun, the south gate, holds which number among South Korea's National Treasures?

The status was formally granted in December 1962, repeating a 1938 colonial-era ranking as Korean Treasure No. 1.

What prompted the demolition of the city walls flanking Namdaemun in the early 1900s?

The prince was deemed too exalted to pass beneath a gateway. The gate itself was closed to the public in 1907 once an electric tram line ran past it.

The red-brick old Seoul Station of 1925, now an arts venue, is crowned by a dome in which style?

Tsukamoto Yasushi of Tokyo Imperial University designed it; it reopened in 2011 as Culture Station Seoul 284, a name taken from its Historic Site number.

Seokjojeon, Deoksugung's neoclassical hall of 1910, was designed by architects from where?

Korea was annexed by Japan just months after it was completed; in 1946 the US military government used it for the Soviet-American Joint Commission on reunification.

Under Japanese rule, Changgyeonggung palace was stripped down into a park featuring what?

Renamed Changgyeongwon and modelled on Tokyo's Ueno Park, it kept its animals until 1983, after which restoration of the palace could begin.

Banpo Bridge holds a Guinness World Record for the world's longest bridge-mounted what?

Thirty-eight pumps and 380 nozzles feed the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain, which runs 20-minute shows up to six times a day from April to October.

When it opened in 1985, the gold-clad 63 Building on Yeouido was the tallest building outside where?

Only 60 floors are above ground; the name counts three restricted levels. Its outline echoes the Chinese character for 'person', a nod to the life insurer that built it.

Seoul's first subway line opened in 1974, a year after which other metro on the peninsula?

The original 7.8-km underground stretch runs from Seoul Station to Cheongnyangni beneath Jongno; Line 1 still runs on the left like Korea's mainline railways.

Seoul Subway Line 2, the city's busiest, is what kind of line?

Its 48.8-km main loop is the world's third-longest subway loop after lines in Moscow and Beijing, and it carried 2.2 million riders a day in 2019.

Lotte World's outdoor section, built out on Seokchon Lake, goes by what name?

The indoor half is called Adventure. The park opened in July 1989 and passed 100 million visitors in December 2007.

What floated on Seokchon Lake in October 2014 to celebrate the opening of Lotte World Mall?

The lake was once part of the river; it was enclosed in 1971 when the Sincheon channel was filled to create Jamsil-dong.

Which activist died from torture in Seoul's colonial prison after the 1919 March First Movement?

The prison opened in 1908 for about 500 inmates; after the 1919 uprising roughly 3,000 activists were packed inside. It closed in 1987 and is now a history hall.

Independence Gate (Dongnimmun), completed in 1898, was modelled on which landmark?

Philip Jaisohn's Independence Club raised the money through donations drummed up by Korea's first modern newspaper; the granite arch was shifted 70 metres in 1979.

The War Memorial of Korea in Yongsan opened in 1994 on the former site of what?

It claims to be the largest memorial of its kind in the world, with three floors of exhibits above ground and two below.

In 2018 the US forces headquarters left Yongsan Garrison for which new base south of Seoul?

The site had been the Imperial Japanese Army's Korean headquarters from 1910 to 1945, and Qing troops camped there during the 1882 Imo Incident.

Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential Blue House, first opened to the public as a park in which year?

President Yoon Suk Yeol moved his office to the Defence Ministry compound in Yongsan; the main hall's roof carries about 150,000 blue tiles, which give the house its name.

Kim Shin-jo, the commando captured alive in the 1968 Blue House raid, was sent to kill whom?

Thirty-one men from Unit 124 rehearsed on a full-scale mock-up of the residence; all but two died, and the president was unharmed.

The wave-shaped new Seoul City Hall, opened in 2012, holds a Guinness record for the largest what?

Architect Yoo Kerl based the curve on the eaves of traditional houses; the 1925 colonial city hall in front of it is now the Seoul Metropolitan Library.

The 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse in Seocho killed how many people?

The building had been planned as a four-storey apartment block; the owner fired his contractor, cut columns for escalators and added a fifth floor for a food court.

What dropped into the Han River on the morning of 21 October 1994, killing 32 people?

Poor welding and rusted hinges were blamed and 16 officials and builders were convicted; every Han crossing was inspected afterwards and the rebuilt structure opened in 1997.

The October 2022 Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon was South Korea's deadliest disaster since what?

159 people died in an alley 3.2 metres wide at its narrowest beside the Hamilton Hotel; a police task force blamed inadequate preparation despite repeated warnings.

The first-ever K League match, on 8 May 1983, was played at which Seoul venue?

Opened in 1925 as Keijō Stadium, it also staged the first professional baseball game in 1982 and a 250,000-strong liberation celebration in 1945, before being razed in 2008 for the Design Plaza.

Who designed the Jamsil Olympic Stadium, its profile modelled on Joseon white porcelain?

It opened in September 1984 ahead of the 1986 Asian Games, seats 69,950 and has not staged a major world event since the Olympics; Seoul E-Land FC now plays there.

Seoul was due to host the 1970 Asian Games but withdrew, handing them to which city?

When Seoul finally hosted in 1986, the Games doubled as a dress rehearsal for 1988; a North Korean bomb at Gimpo Airport killed five people days before they opened.

Bukhansan's three main peaks were originally known together by what name?

The peaks are Baegundae (836.5 m), Insubong and Mangyeongdae; the Gangbuk district office has petitioned since 2002 to restore the old 'three-horned' name.

Gwanaksan, the mountain beside Seoul National University, takes its name from what object?

Some 5 million hikers climb it each year, and the Seoul side has been a city park since 1968.

The Namsan Cable Car, Korea's first commercial passenger cable car, dates from which year?

The 605-metre cable climbs 138 metres in about three minutes; a slope elevator added in 2009 links it to the Namsan Tunnel 3 entrance.

Before becoming Seoul Forest in 2005, the Seongdong site held the city's first what, from 1908?

A racecourse followed in 1954; the 235-billion-won park now has over 420,000 trees and is the city's third largest.

Before being paved as May 16 Square in the 1970s, the Yeouido Park site was Korea's first what?

The asphalt expanse was named after the 1961 coup; Pope John Paul II canonised 103 Korean martyrs there in 1984, and the park opened in 1999.

The first permanent crossing of the Han River, completed in 1900, was built to carry what?

King Gojong had granted the Seoul-Incheon line to American James R. Morse in 1896, but his venture passed to a Japanese consortium that dropped the promised pedestrian walkway.

Seoul Grand Park, new home of the palace zoo's animals from 1984, lies in which neighbouring city?

Its elephant Giant, imported from Thailand in the 1950s with help from Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul, lived to 57 and died in 2009.

Tapgol Park in Jongno is remembered as the place where what was first read aloud in 1919?

Once the site of Wongaksa temple, it became a public garden in 1897 on the advice of John McLeavy Brown, an Irish adviser to King Gojong; its ten-storey pagoda is National Treasure No. 2.

Which downtown temple near Insadong is the chief temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism?

It was called Taegosa under Japanese rule and took its present name in 1954; a 500-year-old white pine in its courtyard is Natural Monument No. 9.

Why was Seoul National University moved out to a new Gwanak campus from 1975?

The new campus rose on a former golf club; part of the old Jongno site is still used by the medical, dental and nursing colleges as the Yeongeon Campus.

Yonsei University traces its roots to Gwanghyewon, founded in 1885 as Korea's first what?

American missionary Horace Allen founded it; the name Yonsei fuses Yonhi College and Severance, which merged in 1957.

Which smart card, part-owned by the city government, pays for Seoul's buses, subways and many taxis?

It replaced the Seoul Bus Card and is also accepted at convenience stores and four of the five palaces; a basic card costs 3,000 to 5,000 won.

Seoul's bike-share scheme, launched in 2015, is named Ddareungi after what sound?

It started on the Han's right bank in October 2015 with 150 stations; mayor Park Won-soon set a target of 20,000 bikes.

Until 2022 the Seoul Lantern Festival lit up which restored waterway every November?

The 2010 edition drew 2.3 million visitors and was extended by a week under pressure from foreign tourists.

The Seoul–Busan Gyeongbu Expressway, pledged in 1967, was modelled on which foreign roads?

The last mountainous stretch between Daejeon and Daegu opened in July 1970; it carries route number 1, the only number left unchanged in the 2001 renumbering.

Which tech-heavy Gangnam street is named after a Middle Eastern capital?

Seoul swapped street names with Tehran in 1977 when the Iranian capital's mayor visited, and Tehran still has a Seoul Street. Over half of Korea's venture capital is said to sit along it.

Yoido Full Gospel Church, Korea's largest Pentecostal congregation, was founded in 1958 by whom?

The first service, in his mother-in-law's home, drew a handful of people, one of whom had stepped in out of the rain; membership reached 700,000 by 1993.

The phrase 'Miracle on the Han River' was adapted from a nickname for which country's postwar boom?

Prime Minister Chang Myon used it in his 1961 New Year address, months before a military coup swept his government away.

Starfield COEX in Samseong-dong claims to be the world's largest what?

COEX stands for 'convention centers' and 'exhibition halls'; the mall opened in 2000 and houses an aquarium and a multiplex under the Teheran-ro intersection.

Gwanghwamun's 1968 reconstruction was controversial because it was built mainly from what?

The 2006-2010 restoration rebuilt it in pine, moved it 14.5 metres south to its original spot and realigned it with the palace's north-south axis.

Unhyeongung in Jongno was the childhood home of which future monarch, who lived there until age 12?

It was the residence of his father, the regent Heungseon Daewongun; the royal wedding to the future Empress Myeongseong was held in its Norakdang hall, and entry is free.

Leeum Museum of Art in Hannam-dong was designed by Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel and which Dutchman?

Run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture, it pairs traditional Korean art in one building with Hirst, Warhol and Rothko in the other.