Seoul

Seoul (In Hangul: 서울) is the 600+ year old enduring capital of Korea (now a special city). After the Korean War, it became the capital of South Korea, located in the north-west of the country below the DMZ, on the river Han.

With over 10 million registered citizens, the city of Seoul is the most populated single city (excluding greater metropolitan areas) in the world that human civilization has yet known - see Rand McNally (ISBN: 0-528-83872-5). Its density has allowed it to become one of the most "digitally-wired" cities in today's globally connected ecomony. It also has more than 1 million registered vehicles which cause isolated traffic-jams beyond midnight.

History

This city was renamed from Hanyang (漢陽) to Hansŏng (漢城) when it became the capital of the Joseon Dynasty in 1394. It is now called Seoul, meaning capital in Korean. It has no Hanja and can only be written in Hangul.

Originally entirely surrounded by a massive circular wall (a 20 feet high circular stone fortress) to provide security its citizens from wild animals such as the Korean Tiger (Siberian Tiger, once roaming the wilds of Korea in large numbers; although it vanished from the peninsula long ago, its memory has been preserved in both myth and legend), thieves and attacks; only the South and East Gates still remain today. Each entrance was opened and closed each day, by ringing large bells, to allow traffic.

Deoksugung Palace

Urban and civil planning was a key concept when Seoul was first designed to serve as a capital in the 14th century. The Royal Palace of the Joseon Dynasty still remains in Seoul, and is currently being restored to its original form. Today, there exists 8 major efficient subway lines stretching for more than 100 kilometers which connects the greater Seoul Metropolian area.

There are many significant streets to Seoul, but the most historically significant is Chongno - meaning the "Bell Street" - where 'Chong' means a bell, and 'no' means a street. This bell that signalled different time of the day and therefore controlled the four gates to the city. It is still intact in its original form, and hit ceremonially at 0:00 every new years day.

Its role as capital was interrupted during the turmoil caused by Japanese colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945), when the Japanese had renamed it to a central administrative city called Keijō (京城).

Seoul was the host city of the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup Games.