[One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day Thousand Characters] Yongsan Station and Gyeongdong Market, Wearing a New Story

As autumn, the perfect season for walking, arrives, a program has been prepared where visitors can walk through Seoul's major landmarks with cultural tourism guides to trace the footsteps of our history.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Foundation have developed a new Seoul Walking Tour course called ‘Yongsan Hangang-daero Story Road’ and renewed the existing Dongdaemun area course to introduce the ‘Dongdaemun Traditional Market Healing Road.’ Seoul Walking Tour is a tourism program that explores Seoul’s major tourist attractions on foot with cultural tourism guides. Currently, about 48 courses are operated under various themes such as palaces, tradition & culture, urban regeneration, and night tours, offering free comprehensive explanations about Seoul’s history, culture, nature, and other tourism resources.

Citizens visiting Yongsan History Museum are looking around the interior. [Asia Economy Archive Photo]

‘Yongsan Hangang-daero Story Road’ starts at Yongsan Station and follows Hangang-daero, allowing participants to hear stories about our history and culture embedded throughout Yongsan. It covers the birth and development of Yongsan Station, Yongsan as a military base, and the appearance and transformation of Yongsan from the Joseon Dynasty through the Japanese colonial period to the post-liberation era.

Yongsan Station began on July 8, 1900, as a small wooden building of 11.5㎡ (3.5 pyeong). It became the starting station of the Gyeongui Line and was rebuilt as a Western-style station in November 1906. The station built by 1932 was regarded by the Japanese at the time as one of the four major architectural structures in Joseon, alongside Deoksugung Seokjojeon. Starting in 1972, with the commencement of railway freight transport, it served as a railway logistics terminal bringing various cargo and parcels into Seoul city. Following the opening of the KTX in 2004, it has served as the terminus for the ITX-Cheongchun line since 2012. Reborn as a privately funded station building in October 2004, Yongsan Station has become a city within the city, combining commercial and leisure functions as a center for shopping and cultural activities.

Interior view of Starbucks Gyeongdong 1960 store
[Photo by Shinsegae]

‘Traditional Market Healing Road’ allows visitors to experience the diverse charms of Seoul’s traditional markets, from Yakryeong Market, which accounts for 70% of Korea’s traditional medicinal herb trade, to Gyeongdong Market, recently emerging as a hot place among the MZ generation. The existing course has been newly expanded to include ‘Jeongneungcheon.’ Along with the unique scenery of the bridge pillars, visitors can explore the historical significance of the ‘cheon (stream).’ It also offers insights into the traces of agricultural culture remaining in Seoul and traditional Korean medicine.

Seoul Yakryeong Market is the largest comprehensive Korean medicine complex in the country, housing over 800 stores related to herbal medicine. All kinds of medicinal herbs from across the nation gather here. Seoul Yakryeong Market naturally emerged in the 1960s as herbal medicine merchants from all over the country began to converge using Cheongnyangni Station.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is experiencing shoe decorating at Geumseong Electronics in Gyeongdong Market, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, on January 18, 2023, during a visit to local livelihood sites ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Gyeongdong Market, established in 1960, is a traditional market known as a place where you can find everything, including agricultural and marine products, herbal medicine, and ginseng. In the area known for herbal medicine, the old Gyeongdong Theater, which had been closed for a long time, has been transformed into a unique cultural complex featuring LG Electronics and Starbucks Korea. ‘Starbucks Gyeongdong1960’ and ‘LG Geumseong Electronics Refresh Center’ were created by remodeling the theater’s screening room, projection room, ticket office, and concession stand. ‘Starbucks Gyeongdong1960,’ a large-scale caf? converted from a theater, and the ‘LG Geumseong Electronics Refresh Center,’ filled with free experiences, have already attracted young people and families with children?rare visitors to traditional markets?through SNS and word of mouth, drawing them to Gyeongdong Market.

Seoul Walking Tour operates twice a day on weekdays (10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) and three times on weekends (10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m.). Each group can accommodate up to 10 people, and groups of 11 or more can use the service through group reservations. The tours are offered in seven languages including Korean, English, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Myanmar, and Vietnamese, and also provide interpretation services for the visually and hearing impaired. Reservations for Seoul Walking Tour can be made via the internet and mobile web, and anyone can use the service free of charge. However, individual expenses such as palace entrance fees, cultural experience fees, and transportation costs must be borne by the participants.

LG Electronics models are introducing the retro concept unique experience space, 'Geumseong Jeonpasa Refresh Center.' [Photo by LG Electronics]

Additionally, an SNS event is being held for visitors using the night course (6 p.m. and 7 p.m.) operating until the 31st of this month. Participants in the event will receive the ‘Seoul & Gyeonggi 28 Major Mountains Hiking Tracker,’ an award-winning item from the 10th Seoul Symbolic Tourism Souvenir Contest. Detailed information can be found on the Seoul Walking Tour ‘Night Course’ page.