Korean Errlines

The Korean Air - Asiana Airlines merger would face severe antitrust backlash anywhere, but Korea doesn't seem ready to welcome a foreign full-service carrier, and this is 2020. Yes, the new giant will lose many international routes, since Asiana competed with KAL on almost half of its overseas destinations, but it will also become a big player among Asia's low cost carriers after combining Jin Air, Air Seoul, and Air Busan (probably under the Asiana Airlines brand). Skyteam scores a major win against Star Alliance, and even slightly diluted as a KAL shareholder, Delta Airlines reinforces a key position in the region.

Needless to say, the pandemic spiced up this Korean drama where both Asiana suitors flew away: 

• the preferred consortium (Hyundai Development Company - Mirae Asset - Daewoo) looked for every possible loophole to take off between the engagement and the wedding, 
• Aekyung landed on a much smaller prey, beefing up its Jeju Air with Eastar Jet
• in the end, Kumho Asiana will have to lead their daughter to their main rival

The Hanjin KAL holding company will be able to advance the funds thanks to KDB, who will get a bit more than 10% of the merged carrier. So indirectly, the government foots the bill. In spite of the chaebol family scandals (from the nutrage to its many sequels), the Cho must go on...

Earlier this year, Korean Air fared much better than its global rivals, mainly thanks to freight traffic. And these days, the most popular domestic route in the World happens to be between Seoul and Jeju, the nation's preferred holiday destination benefiting from the lack of overseas alternatives. 

(source "These Are the World’s Busiest Airline Routes During Covid Times" - Bloomberg 20201117)

After inventing flights to nowhere (take off and landing in the same airport), Korea opened its skies to international fly-over travels. So there's always a quick fix if you miss international travels. Even for those who miss Jin Air's inflight meals (this is 2020, you are entitled to miss anything), there's a solution - low cost, of course:

'Travel withdrawal syndrome? Jin Air proposes inflight meals at home (today's KJD). For this plastic frenzy to make perfect sense, they should add a hundred gallons of kerozene to burn in your living room' (@theseoulvillage - 20201024)

But for cheap and easy escapes, nothing beats a travel book:

'Lonely Planet' indeed (they forgot 'Glamping on the balcony') (@theseoulvillage - 20201023)

Hep, taxi!

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"K-Experience Culture Complex" To Replace KAL's Songhyeon-Dong Project. Really?

The Songhyeon-dong drama reminds me of the 'Trou des Halles' feuilleton in Paris. In both cases, a massive lot in the dead center of the capital remains empty for years while all stakeholders debate over its purpose. I wish a better ending to Seoul than the site of the former Paris wholesale market: then mayor Jacques Chirac opted for the behemoth of an urban mess that to this day cripples the city center (under renovation, Le Forum des Halles will reopen next year).

Left: Les Halles, Paris (from the 'trou des Halles' to the Forum des Halles to the new - and improved? - Forum des Halles) / Right: Songhyeon-dong, Seoul (from a hole in downtown Seoul to Mario Botta's caprice for KAL, to...?)

In case you missed the previous episodes*: 

• Korean Air wants to build a 7-star hotel on prime land, the 30,000 sqm site formerly used for US Embassy staff in Songhyeon-dong, between the Gyeongbokgung and Insadong. 
• To tame conservationists opposed to the project, KAL pledges to give it a 'hanok-ish' look.
• But the main hurdle is legal: regulations forbid certain activities in the vicinity of schools. Intense lobbying to move the school and change the law ensues.
• CHO Hyun-ah's "Nutrage" incident torpedoes KAL's ambitions on a land Hanjin Group (the chaebol piloted by her family) doesn't even own
• Last May emerges a new path, more culture-oriented:

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/600102138790825984 (20150518 @theseoulvillage)

Since yesterday's presser**, we have a clearer picture of what may come next:

• all the land shall be occupied by a "K-Experience Culture Center", to be completed by 2017
• the government and Hanjin Group shall collaborate on the project
• the building will respect hanok architecture, but with top notch technologies
• no hotel (even if KAL didn't abandon all hope), no casino - but no formal pledge that they'll never appear...

Authorities seem trapped by binding engagements with Hanjin. Politically, they cannot let KAL do what they want, or they would face public outcry. But at the end of the day, behind the cultural alibi, the group must somehow get some decently fat cash cow to milk.

This "traditional" "K-Experience Culture Center" is a classic gimmick for empty cultural shells build in downtown Seoul, and I don't think that at this stage authorities have more clues about how they will fill it than they do for the similar hanokish traditional center planned across Changdeokgung (see "Gwanghwamun, Donhwamun, and the Tale of two Royal Roads"). Expect some tribute paid to long-gone Choseon landmarks.

Worse: the "K-Experience" part has the sirupy "hallyu" flavor Korea must ASAP stop spreading all across its cultural spectrum (see "Heralding cultural diversity - a stronger and more sustainable Korean Wave"). That's more like the "classic gimmick for empty cultural shells" built on the other side of the river (BTW yet another kpoop / kdrama center has been announced near Jamsil).

Meanwhile, on the other side of Sejong-daero, the Four Seasons Seoul is getting ready for inauguration (October). The 'hanok' touch lies mostly on its curves (not to mention Hwang Ran's installation in the lobby!)...

Hanok curves for the Four Seasons Seoul (Jongno, Seoul) - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/631776061731139585

... and Airbnb keeps growing its base in the Korean capital, still under regulatory radars...

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* e.g. "From The Outside, KAL's "7 Star Hanok Hotel" Showcases Excellence in Freight", ""Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed"
** featuring the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as KAL's JO Seong-bae - see "[일문일답] 조성배 대한항공 상무 "송현동 부지에 호텔 건립 포함 안돼"" (Newsis 20150818) or "Korean Air hotel plan turns into culture center" (KJD 20150819)

From The Outside, KAL's "7 Star Hanok Hotel" Showcases Excellence in Freight

Remember Korean Air's "hanok hotel" project in  Songhyeon-dong(see "Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed")? Rather than traditional Korean architecture, the first aerial views bring to mind plane hangars ("Excellence in Freight"?), computer chips, old tape recorder keys, or maybe the kind of golden piano keys Liberace's diamond-laden fingers would love to strike:

Source "7성급 한옥호텔'이라더니…귀퉁이 영빈관이 '고작'"  (News1 - 20140417) via Naver

The architect KIM Won - who worked with the great KIM Swoo-geun at Space Group - went as far as wondering if this was truly the work of a renowned colleague (Mario Botta, who did the round part of the Leeum), and how this thing could pretend to be inspired by hanok.

Yes, if you look closely in the upper left corner, you do find a couple of hanoks, but they sound very much like the "Hanok Alibi" I wrote about last year in "Build a hanok and they will come - Marketing impostures and genuine slow urbanism":

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/310299015470256128

And you can't even see them from the street the way you do for the Office of Royal Genealogy at the nearby MMCA Seoul*..., but that's consistent with a non-inclusive, resolutely exclusive 7-star concept that, otherwise and regardless of its degree of hanokness, seems optimized to leverage on intense foot traffic at a key touristic intersection, with a gallery facing Insadong. 

Note that unlike in Blingblingistan (a.k.a. Dubai), hotel classifications don't reach as far as 7 stars in Korea, but that's another story. At least - speaking of stories - this high-profile project remains low-rise...

... and at ground level for the moment, because the land has remained untouched so far. I took this view from across the street a couple of years ago...

November 2011

... and News1 published this close-up yesterday: 

Source "서울 호텔 이용률 78.9%, 공급과잉 우려"  (News1 - 20140416)

News1's shot was taken not far from where the gallery will be erected, at the bottom righ corner in the aerial view above. This angle prolongs the Insadong axis, and you can see the Folk Museum, Cheong Wa Dae, and Bugaksan in the background.

Note that this last picture illustrated an article about the mounting risk of hotel rooms oversupply in Seoul, a recurrent topic on my own "Korean errlines"**, and an issue raised yesterday by the CCEJ (Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice) during a meeting where the so-called 'hanok hotel' came under fire.

Intense lobbying eventually seems to be paying for KAL, and leveraging the government's recent deregulation frenzy, an obviously tailor-made reform took care last month of the law that had blocked the company for years (no hotels could be built near schools, and there's a couple of them just next door):

"Law changes to allow hotels near schools. Will #KoreanAir build its 'hanokized' 7-star near #Anguk?" (20140327)
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/449016361151242241

So if you want an aerial view from a hotel with hanok, I suggest the one I took a couple of days ago from the 23rd floor of The Shilla:

"#Jangchung Gymnasium in its #Colosseum stage (in the distance, #DDPSeoul, #Doota Tower)"
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/455589503902568448

Following a bottom right - top left diagonal:

• in the right corner: the hotel's Yeong Bing Gwan, a 1967 hanok used for weddings and receptions
• in the center: the old Jangchung Gymnasium, beheaded during its renovation, almost looks like Roma's Colosseo
• in the background: on the way to Doota Tower, the shining flank of the giant squid (the DDP - see "Sneak peek inside Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park")

And of course, Wongudan's Hwanggungu Pavilion is still standing on Westin Chosun territory.

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* BTW if you fancy more animated aerial views of this block, re-watch "MMCA Seoul from above")
** along with the future magnets on each side of the Gyeongbokgung: this KAL hotel and the Four Seasons (see for instance "Four Seasons Seoul", "A 6 Star Hotel in Gwanghwamun?")

A 6 Star Hotel in Gwanghwamun?

If Korean Air's ambitious 7-Star 'hanokish' hotel near Anguk* remains on hold, Mirae Asset's project for a 6-Star hotel at Gwanghwamun Station seems back on tracks.

As we saw earlier, many office buildings are to be delivered over the next few months and years in this area, and across the capital, some projects are already being partly converted into hotel rooms because the boom in tourism is expected to continue as Seoul catches up with rival world magnets. No wonder Jongno-gu wanted developpers to come up with something different than the office space initially planned at this prestigious address (Gwanghwamun Naegeori or the Saemunan-ro / Sejongdae-ro intersection).

We first heard about the project last March but today, more details were released in the media: 26 floors, 316 to 348 rooms, and an inauguration scheduled for 2016. To operate the hotel, Mirae would love to deal with Four Seasons. The franchise usually settles for buildings with a long history but here, the location is loaded with culture and history : in Shinmunro, between Gwanghwamun Square and Gyeonghuigung, just opposite Cheonggyecheon, and halfway between Gyeongbokgung/Seochon and Deoksugung/City Hall**. Bonus: a relatively low competitive pressure (not far from the Koreana Hotel, but clearly in a different area than the Westin or the Plaza).

Hankyung (Korea Economic Daily) published an update of the tourist hotels under construction in Seoul (""외국인 관광객 잡아라" 서울 도심 호텔 6000실 '공사중'"): a total of 6,000 rooms, and a few other Jongno-gu projects (JW Marriot in Jongno 6-ga, Waterfront in Gwansu-dong, and Ibis Ambassador in Ikseon-dong).

I hope the sketch presented in that article as the future Gwanghwamun landmark is just a first draft.

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*"Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed"
** and don't forget Baekundongcheon ("Baekundongcheon / Gwanghwamun-gil - A River Runs Through It")!

KAL receives its first Airbus A380

Korean Air unveiled its first A380, and the initial commercial flight is scheduled for 9:10 AM on June 17, 2011, as flight KE380 between ICN and NRT (Incheon and Narita).

A dedicated website has been inaugurated (a380.koreanair.com), but there's not so much about the inside of the plane. All I know is that is will seat 407, much less than the 5 former A380 clients... which should mean special perks for the most expensive seats, and not just the "Kosmo Suites" and "Prestige Sleeper Seats" already presented :




Come on: they're hiding stuff in this movie. Where's the bar ? The jacuzzi ? The screen golf ? The noraebang ? The gimchi spa ?

Okay okay. I hope it won't be as bad as the most extravagant and tasteless plane I ever visited (back in the 80s at the Bourget fair) : an ATR42 sold to petrodollar kings with a window-to-window bed big enough to host a whole harem and golden faucets in the bathroom... sorry I need a barf bag (excellence in fright).

What strikes me most is how, instead of serving long hauls, the giant carrier will first target frequent flyers and business travelers between both capitals. Always that fierce competition for the regional hub...

So I'll have to wait for a direct Paris-Seoul on this big fat bird ripe for Thanksgiving (Emirates does flies one on the Seoul-Dubai route).

(update 201105: the commercial)


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Hanok New Town in Seongbuk-dong

Another sign of changing times : a Seongbuk Hanok Village project has been unveiled yesterday : 410 houses and 75,000 square meter in Seongbuk-dong, at the feet of Seoul fortress walls. Delivery expected in 2014, and a second batch of 250 traditional homes could follow in 2018.

One can definitely see a trend and a cultural shift. This somehow reminds me of KAL's luxury hanok-style hotel project in Anguk-dong (see "Korean Air grounded: Seoul 7 star hotel delayed"). In this part of Seongbuk-2-dong, 92% of existing constructions have reached the required age for a reconstruction. They say that the hanok maeul would be the perfect crown around another national treasure, Simujang (만해한용운심우장), the House of "Manhae", the buddist monk and poet Han Yong-un (1879-1944).

But when you look closely, the project could mean the destruction of a few real hanoks. And to me, this sounds like a smart way of pushing development in a protected area. Of course, local tenants love the concept : all projects have been blocked for a decade, and given the recent craze for hanoks and town houses, they're sure to get a nice profit from this one. Particularly since the new hanoks are presented as "below 4 floor" buildings : I have the feeling that they won't be that traditional (old hanoks seldom had a second floor, except for a few luxury residences in Andong, or a late Joseon building in Deoksugung).

At least there's some progress : instead of the usual "villa / tombstone" dilemma, we're proposed yet another artificial hanok village. Of course, the alternative would be very expensive : removing ugly buildings and restoring the remaining old hanoks.

Times are changing in Seoul, but not that quickly.

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Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed

Yesterday, education authorities blocked a Korean Air project to build the country's first seven-star hotel just meters away from Gyeongbokgung and Insadong.

KAL got all the agreements for a complex which would definitely have redefined hospitality in this major touristic and cultural area : a hanok-style boutique hotel with luxury shops and exhibition facilities.

It would have been erected at the intersection between Yulgokno and Gyoyuk-gil, a narrow street leading to Jeongdok Public Library, surrounded by schools which, according to the authorities, would have been disturbed. Thus this last moment interdiction.

KAL withdrew its project for the moment, but keeps pushing for it, promising a participation in intensive archeological research : the area must be worth digging... and needless to say, the project is a potential gold mine for the company.

This site belongs to the US Embassy : about twenty grey-green houses and facilities protected with stone walls and a secured black metal gate. Size ? Judging by the map, around 30,000 square meters if you add 49-1 Seonghyeon-dong (20,203.2 sqm according to Korea Land Information System), 97-2 Sagan-dong (6,165.1 sqm), and half of 34 Seonghyeon-dong (6,229.3 sqm - shared with Deokseong Women's Middle School). The first two lots were estimated around KRW 4 M / sqm last year, the latter KRW 3 M / sqm, but for a land this big in such a location the bill must be much higher than USD 100 M. Last year, land was estimated 2.5 times higher just across Yulgokno, but a chaebol paid much more to plant its new headquarters.

I won't judge a concept I haven't seen, but I'm glad this one is based on Korean traditional architecture - I guess it wouldn't have go this far otherwise. What I'm really curious to see are the next steps.

The US Embassy is supposed to move to Yongsan during this decade, Yongsan Army Base to be turned into a huge park, and speculators to make a few dimes in the process. Beyond Songhyeon-dong facilities, what will happen to the main building, in the dead middle of Sejongno ? I wouldn't bet a buck on its "hanokization".

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