4.1 Seoul
Geography of Korea: IV. The Capital Region > 1. Seoul
1. Seoul
Extending some 30.3 kilometers north to south and 36.7 kilometers east to west, for a total area of 605 sq. kilometers, and with a total population (as of 2013) of 10,140,000, the capital of the Republic of Korea (or South Korea) is truly the country’s political, economic, cultural, and transport center. Located in the central region of the peninsula, Gyeonggi-do province makes up its surrounding outlying areas. Seoul’s representative flower, tree, and bird are the forsythia (gaenari), gingko, and magpie, while its mascot is the Haechi (a lion-like mythological beast also known as a Haetae).
Seoul currently has eighteen sister cities: Taipei, Ankara, Honolulu, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Bogota, Jakarta, Tokyo, Moscow, New South Wales, Paris, Mexico City, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Hanoi, Warsaw, Cairo, and Rome. It served as the host city of the 1988 Summer Olympics and is one of twenty world cities with populations over ten million.
| Ranking | District (gu) | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Songpa-gu | 668,415 |
| 2 | Nowon-gu | 590,479 |
| 3 | Gangseo-gu | 569,070 |
| 4 | Gangnam-gu | 563,599 |
| 5 | Gwanak-gu | 518,028 |
| 6 | Eunpyeong-gu | 503,660 |
| 7 | Yangcheon-gu | 492,528 |
| 8 | Gangdong-gu | 483,379 |
| 9 | Seongbuk-gu | 476,589 |
| 10 | Seocho-gu | 441,763 |
| 11 | Guro-gu | 424,964 |
| 12 | Jungnang-gu | 416,798 |
| 13 | Dongjak-gu | 410,815 |
| 14 | Yeongdeungpo-gu | 386,471 |
| 15 | Mapo-gu | 381,856 |
| 16 | Gwangjin-gu | 368,927 |
| 17 | Dongdaemun-gu | 364,273 |
| 18 | Dobong-gu | 358,582 |
| 19 | Gangbuk-gu | 338,707 |
| 20 | Seodaemun-gu | 314,110 |
| 21 | Seongdong-gu | 299,337 |
| 22 | Geumcheon-gu | 241,020 |
| 23 | Yongsan-gu | 239,740 |
| 24 | Jongno-gu | 160,070 |
| 25 | Jung-gu | 130,465 |
| TOTAL | Seoul | 10,143,645 |
Though Seoul comprises on 0.6 percent of South Korea’s total territory, its population density is extremely high with about one out of every five South Koreans living there. The population density of Seoul is about 16,760 persons per square kilometer, making it not only the most population dense self-governing metropolitan area in the country but even the most densely populated city among all OECD countries. It is eighteen times more densely populated than the country’s least densely populated province of Gangwon-do (with 92 persons/sq. km.), eight times more densely populated than New York (2050 persons/sq. km.) and Sydney (2100 persons/sq. km.), five times more than Rome (2950/sq. km.), four times more than Paris (3550 persons/sq. km.) and Berlin (3750 persons/sq. km.), and three times more than Tokyo-Yokohama (4750 persons/sq. km) and London (5100 persons/sq. km.).
Among the world’s forty-three megacities with over five million in population, Seoul rank’s seven in terms of population density, surpassed by Dhaka, Bangladesh (132,550 persons/sq. km.), Mumbai (29,650 persons/sq. km.) and Kolkata, India (23,900 persons/sq. km.), Karachi, Pakistan (18,900 persons/sq. km.), Lagos, Nigeria (18,150 persons/sq. km.), Shenzhen, China (17,150 persons/sq. km.).
Seoul has served as a capital city since 1394, a period of over 620 years. During the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910) it was known as Hanseong or Hanyang, during the Japanese colonial period (1910–1945) it was called Gyeongseong (Keijo in Japanese), and did not become its official appellation of Seoul until after liberation in 1945. The population of Seoul during the eighteenth century was about 200,000. Its population had increased a hundred-fold by 1940, when its residents numbered about 775,000 Koreans and 155,000 Japanese. The city’s population first surpassed one million in 1942, reached five million by 1970, and by 1988 exceeded ten million. Seoul’s population peaked in 1992 at 10.97 million and then began a decline, falling to between 10.1 and 10.5 million by 1995. As of 2013, among Seoul’s 25 autonomous districts (gu), the most populous is Songpa-gu, followed by Nowon-gu, Gangseo-gu, Gangnam-gu, Gwanak-gu, and Eunpyeong-gu, all of which have populations in excess of 500,000 (Table 4-1).
Among South Korea’s cities, Seoul has the highest non-Korean population. Accommodation facilities catering to foreigners are clustered around the Seoul neighborhoods of Insadong, Myeongdong, Itaewon, Gangnam, Apgujeong, and Gwangjangdong. Seoul’s heart is also a tourist district with many attractions located closely together, such as Gyeongbok Palace, the National Folk Museum, National Palace Museum, Cheongwadae (“Blue House,” the residence of the South Korean president), Insadong artisan area, Bukchon hanok (traditional Korean-style homes) village, Changdeok Palace, Changgyeong Palace and Royal Ancestral Shrine, Cheonggyecheon Stream, Seoul Museum of History, Jeongdong-gil (a picturesque pedestrian road in Seoul’s historic center), Deoksu Palace, Myeongdong, Namsan Park, and National Museum of Korea. Outside this central area, other parts of the city spotlighted in recent years are the neighborhoods of Hongdae and Sinchon as well as the Gangnam area south of the Han River (with its Apgujeong neighborhood, trendy Garosu-gil road, COEX exhibition center, Bongeun Temple, Lotte World, and Olympic Park, among other locales).
Seoul’s landscape stands out from that of other megacities around the world in that it is bisected by a river—the Han River—and encompassed by mountains. The Han River is also larger in scale than most rivers found in the world’s other major capitals. In Seoul it is spanned by bridges and banked by skyscrapers. Between the city’s Gangnam (“south of the river”) and Gangbuk (“north of the river”) areas, more than twenty bridges cross the Han, and at more than a kilometer in length they dwarf the bridges spanning the Seine in Paris or the Thames in London. The river presents a variety of visually impressive sites, from the Yanghwa Bridge to the Olympic Bridge, from large-scale apartment complexes to Yeouido’s 63 Building (named for its sixty-three floors), and from Lotte World to commercial skyscrapers.
Seoul’s periphery is encompassed by mountains: Mt. Bukhan, Mt. Dobong, Mt. Surak, Mt. Buram, Mt. Gwanak, and Mt. An. Among these peaks, the most popular as recreational destinations for Seoulites, as well as the residents of nearby Gyeonggi-do province, are Mt. Bukhan (836m) and Mt. Dobong (740m) in the region north of the Han River, and Mt. Gwanak (629m) south of the Han River. Especially during the period of autumn foliage or on weekends or on days of fine weather the mountains are crowded with hikers. Such scenic landscapes are perhaps unique to Seoul, for what other global city can offer such high peaks not thirty minutes from the city’s heart?
