Seoul City will install a gondola connecting Namsan Yejang Park to the summit by 2025 to increase the utilization of Namsan. This is expected to operate alongside the existing Namsan Cable Car. The operating profits will be managed as a fund and used for Namsan’s ecological restoration and the creation of leisure spaces.
On the 19th, Seoul City held a press briefing at City Hall and announced the launch of the “Sustainable Namsan Project,” which includes these plans. The goal is to create a sustainable future for Namsan through an eco-friendly approach that enhances citizens’ accessibility to Namsan and restores its ecological value.
To this end, on the 12th, the city launched the “Development Council for Sustainable Namsan” for the first time, chaired by Professor Han Bong-ho of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Seoul, and composed of experts from civic environmental groups and academia. In cooperation with the council, the city plans to introduce an eco-friendly gondola as a measure to strengthen public accessibility, allowing citizens including those with mobility difficulties and domestic and international tourists to visit Namsan comfortably and pleasantly.
The city announced that by next year it will prepare a Namsan ecological environment project plan, begin construction of the Namsan gondola, and establish ordinances related to the fund management of operating profits. By 2025, the eco-friendly gondola will be completed, and the ecological value restoration project for Namsan will be carried out smoothly, harmoniously, and in balance. The operating profits generated from the eco-friendly gondola will be used as resources for projects identified by the council.
The gondola installation was previously attempted twice?once in 2009 during former Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s term and again in 2016 under Mayor Park Won-soon?but both efforts were canceled amid criticism over environmental damage concerns. Yeo Jang-kwon, head of Seoul City’s Balanced Development Headquarters, said, “The gondola can be built by utilizing parts of the Namsan circular trail and areas without vegetation,” adding, “We are also discussing various implementation methods to minimize environmental damage.”
The lower gondola station will be located at “Namsan Yejang Park,” about 80 meters from Myeongdong Station. This site has 39 large bus parking spaces, a transfer center, and passenger waiting areas. The plan is to connect this point to the summit over an 800-meter section. Twenty-five gondolas with a capacity of 10 passengers each will operate, expected to transport up to 2,000 people per hour. The estimated cost for installing the gondola is approximately 40 billion KRW, funded by public resources. The city estimates an annual demand of about 3 million people.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024, with completion in November 2025. The city plans to operate the existing cable car alongside the gondola. Yeo said, “Introducing the gondola is expected to reduce cable car queues and complaints,” adding, “The cable car operator has expressed that they would not oppose the creation of an eco-friendly transportation method.”
Leisure spaces will also be expanded. A skywalk offering views of Namsan’s natural scenery will be created between Namsan Library and Namsan Outdoor Botanical Garden. An outdoor forest museum will be established, linked with Namsan’s forest resources, where representative gardens from various regions nationwide can be seen and experienced in one place. Natural scenic trails such as the Namsan Dulle-gil (7,294m), Hanyangdoseong Trail (3,892m), and Fortress Wall Trail (2,285m) will be maintained to operate educational programs for experiencing and observing Namsan’s ecosystem.
The ecological environment project plan is expected to include expanding ecological landscape conservation areas. The existing ecological environment conservation areas designated in the northern slope’s Quercus acutissima forest and the southern slope’s pine forest will be expanded, and a comprehensive management project considering ecological characteristics will be implemented to restore naturalness and enhance biodiversity.
Additionally, through eco-friendly pest control and preventive management activities, comprehensive and proactive management will be conducted to restore artificial structures and recover natural water circulation. Unnecessary impermeable soil pavements such as asphalt roads within Namsan will be restored to vegetative environments or improved with permeable eco-friendly pavements. Low-use unnecessary forest paths will be closed or managed to minimize vegetation damage caused by indiscriminate use.
Yeo Jang-kwon, head of Seoul City’s Balanced Development Headquarters, said, “Making Namsan a vibrant and high-quality ecological environment is the best way to provide citizens with the most attractive leisure space,” adding, “We will do our best to create an attractive Namsan that is loved by Seoul citizens and people worldwide, and that can be enjoyed nearby and comfortably.”
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