Yeonhuigung - quintessentially Joseon

As you may know, the founder of the Joseon dynasty wanted to build his new capital city in the Yeonhui-Sinchon area. King Taejo loved the place, but his teams wanted to go further afield, to a bigger site beyond Muaksan / Asan, in the nest guarded by Bugaksan / Inwangsan. Taejo eventually gave in, but built a palace for his father where he wished he could have created his own.

The name of the future 'new town' capital city remained until now: Sinchon means 'new village'. The name of the palace also survived, but more indirectly: Yeonhuigung (연희궁-延禧宮) gave its name to the neighborhood, now known as Yeonhui-dong, and later to Yonsei University - for the 'Yon' part ('Sei' came from 'Severance' hospital).

Yeonhuigung was said to be made for future kings, and people around here often joke that the tradition perdured into the next millenium, because 4 South Korean presidents lived in the area (CHOI Kyu-hah, Chun Doo-hwan, ROH Tae-woo, KIM Dae-jung). But when they ruled, Yeonhuigung was already gone for decades.

It's interesting to note how this palace shared his fate with the Joseon Dynasty: created by its founder, blessed by King Sejong The Great (Taejo's grandson renovated it during the second year of his rule), and disgraced by King Sejo's bloodline. Sejo was the man who destroyed Sejong's heritage and the nation's momentum (see "King Danjong and Korea's Curse"), and his descendant Yeonsangun, another one of Korea's worst rulers ever,  basically turned Yeonhuigung into one of his lust spaces. The palace didn't survive the Japanese occupation.

So where would be this palace nowadays? On Yonsei campus, not far from the soccer field where I use to play, around where they built that new exit on Songsan-ro (to pave the way for a pedestrian Yonsei-ro).

Inaugurated Yonsei's new sw gate on my bike after the game (4 goals, 6 assists). Felt like king of Zlatanistan. (20131023 - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/393912711299342336)
NB: to reach "Ventouxsan" (see "A bump on the road (Ventoux-san)"), follow that bike to the right

Local authorities have only recently sold the land - at a very low price - to the university, which had been using it for decades. Maybe something could be done to mark more visibly - not too eyesorely visibly, if possible - the former location of such a royal landmark.


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Seobu Line confirmed as Seoul's LRT top priority

Among the 10+ Light Railway Transit lines considered by Seoul Metropolitan Government last summer, I singled out the Seobu Line / Seobuseon as the logical priority to fill the biggest gap in Seoul subway system (see "Seoul LRT Projects Update (Part 1/2)" - following "If you ain't broke, fix it: Seoul, Welfare and Railways Deficits", and preceding "Seoul LRT Projects Update (Part 2/2)"). It seems that the final recommendations for "Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Master Plan", to be disclosed on October 24*, will confirm this priority.

Reminder: Seoul's LRT plans

Here's a more detailed map zooming on the Seobu Line, including the extention to Seoul National University Station (see my focus for all details regarding the expected stations and scenarii):

Note that:

• After all, Seobu Line could be connected with Subway Line 5 on Yeouido. Maybe my shout out helped...
• Nothing about a potential connection between the future Yonsei U Station and the Sinchon train station. Works have started on Yonsei-ro, Seongsan-ro, and in front of Yonsei University (reminder: "Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix"):
• Until the end of this year, Maeul Bus Line 3 doesn't pass by Yonsei-ro, but draws a larger loop, near Ehwa University.
• The green island created a couple of years ago on Seongsan-ro in front of Severance has been removed, probably to make room for the new major crossroads: since Yonsei-ro is to become car-free, more traffic will come not only to but from Sinchonyeok-ro (and via Yeonhui I.C., further to the West). I really wonder how they'll deal with bottlenecks when a big fish passes away in Severance Hospital.
• Yonsei University seems to be opening a new gate between its soccer and baseball fields, which will relieve foot traffic at the main gate and towards the future LRT station... Bonus: I'll be spared a sweat when I come play soccer on week-ends (right now I have to carry my bike on a small staircase).  
• Mayor PARK Won-soon plans to visit Gwanak-gu this week-end to show his support for a project that happens to be the most profitable both economically and politically... Again, upcoming elections have a lot to do with the revival of a program he lambasted his predecessor for.

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* see among other sources "경전철 서부선 연장" 17일 발표... 민자유치 필요" and "서울 철도 중심시대]서부선 '새절역-서울대입구역'" (Money Today 20131017)

Yonsei-ro the first street in Seoul to ban cars in its transportation mix

The project has been in the air for more than a year but it's now official: Yonsei-ro, the street connecting Yonsei University with Sinchon Station, will be the first one in Seoul to ban private cars.

Only bicycles and small public buses will be allowed (not to mention of course emergency vehicles). Taxis will only be allowed between midnight and 4 A.M. Two time slots are opened for business purposes like deliveries (10-11 AM, 3-4 PM), but some adaptations are already considered, and that could turn quickly messy if no clear rules are applied. In any case, the speed limit is reduced to 30 km/h.
 
Some roadwork is planned, in particular to alleviate the usual bottlenecks along Seongsan-ro (for instance, you can tell a V.I.P. has died when there's a huge queue in front of Severance Hospital). And at the southern end of Yonsei-ro, the traffic coming from the Southeast (Baekbeom-ro) will now be able to turn directly to the left towards Seogang Bridge (Seogang-ro) at Sinchon Rotary.

Of course, congestions shall diminish even more spectacularly thanks to the newly resurrected Seobu Line (see "Seoul Light Rapid Transit Back On Tracks" and a focus I was supposed to finish Tuesday on new railway projects - coming up soon!). Reminder: the future line between Eunpyeong-gu and Gwanak-gu will pass by Sinchon Station and create a new station right in front of the university.
 
So good news for pedestrians, cyclists, and more good news for a neighborhood that badly needed some a couple of years ago (see "Sinchon reloaded - Sinchon Global Zone"**). Again, the success of a neighborhood relies a lot on the relevance of its transportation system, and if this Yonsei-ro project will probably require some fine tuning, it marks, combined with the new subway line, a move in the right direction.

Now that Sinchon seems to be regaining momentum, one can envision a more balanced dialog with Hongdae area. 


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* "버스, 자전거만 통행 가능합니다" (Seoul.go.kr 20130801)
** where I also suggested to connect the two "Sinchon Station" (Subway Line 2 and Gyeongui Line), which were less than 500 m apart. This new Yonsei University Station will be twice closer to the train station...

CHUN Doo-hwan for the record

The other day, my dictator neighbor received a visit from prosecutors who, beyond his Yeonhui-dong house, raided several homes and companies belonging to his relatives. CHUN Doo-hwan was said to be relaxed and polite while they searched his house. For show, he did leave them a little bit more petty cash than usual for their pain (provided they can link him to the over two hundred artworks collected, including some from famous painters such as Park Soo-keun), but nothing close to the KRW 167.5 bn he still owes to the nation.

I'm surprised to learn that prosecutors were surprised to find his safe empty*:

• Arguably Korea's most hated politician (NB: no small feat, particularly across the aisle these days), CHUN had probably been tipped off thanks to his pervasive network. Judging by his impunity and the frequent visits of V.I.P.s to his place, the man still knows how to pull the strings - if not call the shots (no sick pun intended for the victims of the Gwangju Massacre).
• But you don't need to be a crime genius to know something was coming: lawmakers had just voted an extension of the search for his illegal funds in time (until 2020), and in reach (to the relatives). Even if several members of CHUN's family are now under interdiction to leave the national territory, many suspect that significant slush funds have already traveled to friendlier destinations.





Among Monday tweets: "This time, media don't come to #Yeonhuidong to shoot a drama. Prosecutors raid my neighbor dictator #ChunDoohwan" (http://twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/357023321507889153) / "Reminder: #ChunDoohwan got not only a "Get out of jail free" card, but his hands deep into the Community Chest" (http://twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/357044770637492226)

Anyway, Korea needs to recover more than the money still owed by its former strongman**, and even more than the undisclosed total of additional public or private assets rumored to have been offered to his friends.

Korea must recover its credibility as a democracy where justice is not only independent, but respected. Where being a top politician or a top businessman shouldn't mean being granted an unlimited supply of "get out of jail free cards".

I'm not a supporter of death penalty, and I'm glad CHUN's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. I also understand some of the reasons why KIM Yong-sam and KIM Dae-jung pardoned him, but still, putting him out of jail sent a very wrong message to the nation and to the world, and every episode of the saga that followed confirmed the nuisance**.  Now I hope that this time, the record is set right, and that all culprits pay, including in terms of prison time.

Now I guess I've made my point: I'm not exactly a fan of this convicted criminal.

But since CHUN Doo-hwan's record must be set straight, I'd like to mention a lesser known part of his legacy. He banned private tutoring and hagwon the way dictators do (the ugly way, leveraging on coercion and squealers), but towards the end of his rule, students could reach top universities on a merit basis unseen ever since.

I don't know if this can explain a boom in successful independent entrepreneurs one decade later. I don't know the backgrounds of people like the founders of Naver, NCSoft, or Daum (LEE Hae-jin, KIM Tae-jin, or LEE Jae-woong, respectively SNU, SNU, Yonsei U), and I know that anyway, the internet boom offered a unique opportunity for non-chaebol players to emerge in brand new arenas, just one click away from endusers.

But maybe, in his own wicked way, the dictator ironically*** helped rise to the top some of the university leaders who accelerated his fall. Who knows?

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* "Prosecutors Find Empty Safe in Ex-President's House" (Chosun Daily 20130718)
** see previous raids, or last year's episode of "Neighborhood watch"
*** irony: Chung used to be basically Park Geun-hye's bodyguard, and in charge of the security of the predecessor he removed from power

A bump on the road (Ventoux-san)

Saying that Seoul is hilly is a bit like saying that Chicago is windy, but it doesn't show as much as it used to: over the past decades, the city has been carpeted with high rise "apateu" blocks, and hungry caterpilars have bitten off most hilltops.

In many cases, new roads simply cut through the highest hills that used to separate villages nesting on each flank. Picture a hot metal bar lowered on a butter mound: it doesn't cost as much as a tunnel, but leaves disgracious concrete walls on both sides of the road - barren Gaussian curves where the city ceases to exist. Sometimes a bridge connects the former halves of a same neighborhood but only the few people living on the very top use them, and you have to go down at least 500 m on either direction to find a pedestrian crosswalk and risk your life through six lanes of traffic. Final score? Cars 1-0 Humans.

Down in the valleys, you often see much smaller versions of these Gaussian curves (or, on a more poetic note, the bowl hat version of the snake that swallowed an elephant in Saint Exupery's "Le Petit Prince"). And these big bumps on the road can be really annoying when you're a pedestrian: you're on the sidewalk at street level, and suddenly you have to go up and downhill while the road remains flat. For no reason, except of course to reach the few houses remaining at that old street level, as pictured here:



But don't imagine that the guy on the bottom left of this drawing can reach the door on the bottom right without passing by the guy on the top of the hill. That would be too easy. Most of the time, local planners considered that one sidewalk was enough. After all, for many of them, cars seem to be the most important beings in the city.

Every week-end, I ride my bicycle to Yonsei University where I play soccer... or rather a sport that vaguely ressembles soccer when I'm on a good day. From Yeonhui-dong, I have no choice but to use the Northern sidewalk along Seongsan-ro. And if I survive the dangerous entrance to Dongseo Oriental Hospital (see "medical tourism"), I have to face not one but two of those bumps before reaching the stadium.

The second bump is no biggie (even if elder citizens would not agree with the statement): its highest point must reach about 2.5 m over street level. Furthermore, the elevation makes possible the connection between a minor tributary and main street, and fluidifies both foot and car traffic. But the first bump... that mean, steep, 75 m long nightmare shouldn't even exist anymore.

The houses that used to top the hill have merged into a big building which can only be reached from a back street, and the whole thing was elevated even higher, protected by a plain wall without any opening. So basically, to get from the door to the bottom left to the door to the bottom right, you have to go up a very abrupt and absurd hill that leads to nowhere:



If I've climbed much steeper slopes in Seoul, this one makes me very very angry. Granted, it gives me a perfect alibi for my poor performance later at Yonsei, but I'm sure everybody in the area would love to see it disappear.

Of course, the obvious thing to do would be to get rid of the hill altogether and to prolong the mansion's walls to street level. That wouldn't cost much, and would change the lives of many citizens.

So last year, when I saw a group of workers studying the hill, I thought that, at long last, change was coming.

All they did was to put a metal handrail along the mansion wall.

Yes they can.

I'm sure Seodaemun citizens felt offended and said something because a few months later, more workers came. That's it, I thought, they're really going to fix it.

They erected a staircase on both sides of the hill. More concrete, yeah!

And to sign their masterpiece, they've just put a brand new layer of asphalt. A cherry on an unedible cake.

Here's the new and improved mess, complete with its railing, staircases, and asphalt:

How much for these three brilliant interventions? For the same price, I bet they could have sliced at least half of the monster, and that would have made a lot more difference.

I can't wait for the next touch: a marquee to protect sweating bikers from the baking sun during their ascent of Seoul's Mont Ventoux?

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More room(s) for Seoul students

City officials have decided to recycle part of their real estate for students : Seoul will build residences with a focus on sites near universities (within a 1 km radius), preferably stretching over 700 square meters. 20,000 units are planned.

Typically, 142 rooms will be created at Yonsei University's North Gate, facing existing Yeonhui-dong facilities. Note that Yonsei itself has recently renovated parts of its residences and launched new projects, including a cancer treatment center for its Severance Hospital.

A great portion of the 'one-room' market is provided by individuals who sometimes split their own homes into tiny cells, cramming as many as possible. Raising the standards is good for the image of a country where, as we saw earlier, the number of Foreign students has been multiplied by 30 over the past decade.

Speaking of education and budget issues : scheduled for August 24, the 'free meal' referendum is, as expected (see "Seoul free school lunch referendum (continued)"), getting trickier by the day :
- polls show a large majority against the populist "free for all" system, but overruling the council vote would result in a technical delay that makes the choice less clear : one one hand, free lunches for all elementary school students from 2011 and all middle school students from 2012 (according to the council vote), and on the other, a system focused on low revenue households to be implemented step-by-step by 2014.
- the recent tragic summer floods (see "Climate Change in Korea") logically caught all the spotlights and put more pressure on the administration

To be continued...

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DMC at full throttle - Songdo from Sim City to Sin City ?

Remember our parallel between Seoul Digital Media City and Incheon's Songdo International Business District* ? Both project have been advancing since, with Songdo building everything from scratch, and the DMC enjoying many transfers from other districts.

Even for education : the Japan School in Seoul moved from Gangnam-gu to the DMC in Mapo-gu, while of Chadwick International School in Songdo was a creation. To be fair, Songdo also benefited from a major transfer with Yonsei Songdo Global Academic Complex (SGAC), and the DMC has already created many original landmarks as well.

Once again, the Songdo project is much bigger and complex to fill, even after signing such majors as Samsung (ie recently for a biopharmaceutical unit). The local press made a fuss about the recent visit of Vegas casino operators, and Grand Korea Leisure, who operate 7 Luck Casino in Seoul, are considering Jeju or Songdo for a second spot... A new Macau much closer to Shanghai and Beijing ?

Meanwhile, leveraging on Seoul Metropolitan Government's determination to create an international multimedia cluster**, the DMC recently received the confirmation from seven major multimedia groups, including JoongAng, back to the broadcasting arena with growing ambitions. Of course, JoongAng Broadcasting Corporation (JoongAng Media Network) already operated Cartoon Network, J Golf, or Q Channel, but the group lost its leadership after the Tongyang Broadcasting Company breakup (note the new entertainment channel brand, jTBC, as an echo to the pre-1980s). The group also purchased CINUS theaters via Isplus (Ilgan Sports).

Korea's biggest media group already moved to the DMC a long time ago : CJ E&M (CJ Entertainment & Media, formerly O Media Holdings) now regroups all the chaebol's media assets, creating a major in music (Mnet, CJ E&M Music.Live, FNC Music, Good Concert, Jisan Valley Rock Festival, Global Gathering...), movies (CJ Entertainment, CGV...), media (CJ Media, On Media, OCN, chCGV, Story On, tvN, OnStyle, NGC Korea, XTM, Olive, CJ O Shopping, CJ Internet...), and games (CJ E&M Games, BiCore, Netmarble...).

Yet the competition is not just national anymore. And there too, Seoul and Incheon are definitely putting more chips on the table...

Seoul Village 2011

* "Seoul Digital Media City Tour"
** see more recently "DMC aims at Tinseltown - welcome to Hallyuwood !".

Sinchon reloaded - Sinchon Global Zone

Sinchon area has it all, but clearly lacks some consistency. As local authorities unveil a new KRW 7.5 bn plan to redesign it, it seems high time to get the big picture and to make sure they'll get it right.

1) Sinchon can leverage on unique assets...

- Korea's biggest education hub, with Yonsei University (N), Hongik University (W), Ewha University (NE), and Seogang University (S) within a very short radius, and Myeongji University (NW) not much further afield. If Edae and Hongdae areas have stronger personnalities because they are more clearly defined around one "major" (Ehwa being a women's university and Hongik specialized in creative studies), Sinchon is a more central and neutral "battlefield", and less dominated by Yonsei.

- A strategic crossroads connected with major business hubs (downtown, Yongsan, Yeouido, and the DMC) - Sinchon Rotary, at the intersection between Changcheon-dong, Donggyo-dong, and Nogosan-dong :
. Sinchon-ro : Eastwards towards Seodaemun and downtown, and Westwards towards Seogang Bridge / Yeouido or Sangam / DMC.
. Yonsei-ro : Northwards towards the University and Seongsandae-ro
. Seogang-ro : Southwards towards Yongsan via Gongdeok

2) ... but structural problems need to be fixed...

- Two strategic stations (on Subway Line 2 and Gyeonghui Line, Seoul's oldest railway station) share the same name "Sinchon Station" with entrances less than 500 m apart, but they are not even connected...

- Sinchon Rotary is as lamely designed for humans as it is for vehicles, and the dialogue between its Northern and Southern halves more than poor. Unsurprisingly, they belong to different districts (respectively Seodaemun-gu and Mapo-gu). It's not a total train wreck, but you can feel the wasted space and unoptimized urbanism.

- Yonsei-ro is often saturated : the only passage under the railway, in front of Yonsei's main gate, creates a massive bottleneck, particularly since on the other side, the gigantic mass of the university and Ansan offers no alternative to Seongsandae-ro, a major West-East axis supporting the bulk of Seoul's boom in its Northwestern quarter.

3) ... and if major changes have been initiated...

- Local authorities intend to transform Sinchon into a cultural/education/commerce hub. The masterplan centers on Nogosan-dong, Mapo-gu (280,000 sqm) and Daehyeon-dong, Seodaemun-gu (750,000 sqm), stretching all the way to the mouth of Yeonhui-ro. It seems to interconnect more seamlessly Sinchon with Hongdae and Ewha :



- Sinchon lies at the center of the Light Railway Transit system that will connect, by 2017-2018, Unpyeong-gu with Seodaemun-gu, Mapo-gu, and Yeongdeungpo-gu (see "Subway news : Sillim line, Line 3..."). I presume local authorities will merge this third Sinchon Station with the two existing ones - if not, something is rotten in the state of Seoul !

4) ... local authorities must reach even further... and out to each other

- Speaking of a education, commerce and culture hub is one thing, succeeding another one. You don't stimulate culture by decree, and Sinchon needs more than a new landmark or some cosmetic changes on one existing street. Solutions should fluidify the whole neighborhood. Local services and commerces also need a boost : even with the Hyundai Department Store / Uplex and Sinchon Migliore / Sinchon Station complex, the area doesn't really reaches its full potential. It even lags behind Hongdae in the eateries' department.

- Mapo-gu and Seodaemun-gu need to work closely together, to share the same strategic vision, and to communicate consistently. We already had a similar, but more Seodaemun-gu-centered, project exactly one year ago featuring Sinchon as a "University-based Tourism City" ("대학기반 관광 도시"):



- This new masterplan also falls short of tackling the Yonsei-ro bottleneck issue. Ideally, the Gyeonghui Line should be buried and covered with a park, just like the nearby Yongsan Line (at Yeonnam-dong).

To be continued...
Seoul Village 2011

Chusoaked

Typhoon Fanapi poured up to 10 cm of rain per hour over Seoul on Chuseok day (261 mm overall, a record for September), causing major damage in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. More than 10,000 homes (including the 70 year old Seoul Mayor residence in Hyehwa-dong, which was to be relocated anyway*), were damaged by this unusually late monsoon.

If you were there, you probably witnessed spectacular scenes on the streets : streams forming here and there, geysers breaking pavements apart, meter-wide holes cutting traffic on major roads, cascades springing from doorsteps, cars stuck into newborn ponds...

Should Seoul organize olympic games again, Gwanghwamun Lake would make a perfect spot for rowing events. And as I carefully drove across the two feet deep Yonsei Stream, I was surprised not to see any kayakist enjoy the moment (during a similar event in France, I did come across one on a main street).

This typhoon wraps up an extremely humid summer, and whoever the culprit (global warming, the Three Gorges Dam, La Nina, the cashmere industry in Mongolia, Lee Harvey Oswald, all of the above), Korea will have to adapt. Among other things to be redesigned : parts of the sewage and drainage systems, certain road curves, and a few dangerous spots, such as the tunnel connecting Sangamno with Gangbyeon Expressway, where some drivers even drowned in previous flash flood episodes.

Seoul Village 2010

* a new residence is under construction in Hannam-dong, this one is supposed to be transformed into a Seoul Global Business Center for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Seoul Digital Media City Tour

I was looking forward for that one : a promotional tour of the DMC organized by its developers, Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Beyond each stop (DMC Gallery, Haneul Park, Nuritkum Square Digital Pavilion, DMCVille, DMC High Tech Business Center), I wanted the big picture and a general feeling : I knew the ambitions, and I saw the area change dramatically over the past few years, but could this Digital Media City fly ?

Even if it's only about halfway towards completion, the answer is yes : the DMC will be a success. For three good reasons : there's a consistent concept, there's a will from all key players, and compared to many Korean pharaonic projects, the progression seems sustainable. We'll know for sure later this year, when new railway connections are opened, and ground really broken for Seoul Lite, the landmark building.

In my mind, the DMC was a little bit like Songdo, an ambitious business oriented new town / pervasive computing utopia, but with a completely different scale and modus operandi :
- the World's most expensive private real estate development ever, Songdo, stretches over 6 million square meters, partly on a polder off Incheon, and is operated by Gale International and POSCO. The Songdo International Business District (IBD) has a strong trade and convention flavor, with the ambition to become a Northeast Asian hub, illustrated by the NEATT (NorthEast Asian Trade Tower) and the proximity to Incheon Airport. It's a brand new city targeting pioneers.
- the DMC covers "only" 570,000 square meter and is operated by Seoul city within the city limits, in Mapo-gu. It is meant to become the national cluster for media and entertainment industries. A significant portion of tenants are migrating from previous sub-clusters.

In spite of the global business climate, Songdo and the DMC are not competing against each other, but both expect completion in 2015, and both are supposed to inaugurate a landmark skyscraper that same year : the 151 Incheon Tower (151 floors, 601 m) in Songdo, the Seoul Lite (133 floors, 640 m - 540 without the antenna) in the DMC. Also, both present massive green lungs : a big central park in Songdo (bonus: a golf course), the World Cup Park in the DMC (bonus: the nearby World Cup Stadium itself).

Does size matter ? Definitely, but Songdo is a complete city built from scratch, and the DMC a city within a city, whose size and focus make things easier. For instance, Songdo boasts 80,000 apartments compared to 8,000 for the DMC (6,000 have been delivered, 2,000 will be later this year), but that's without taking into account major urban developments just a few hundred meters away : Susaek New Town in Eunpyeong-gu, Gajaeul New Town in Seodaemun-gu. Songdo boasts a Yonsei University branch and a foreign school and the DMC will "only" claim the Japan School in Seoul, but there are already many universities and foreign schools in a close distance.

In the DMC, if only half of the buildings have been completed, 82% of the land has been attributed and 42 of the 51 lots sold (this maps spots the place for sale in this big "T"). About 300 companies already moved in, creating 23,000 jobs (80,000 targeted by 2015) and for the moment, 43% are in IT, 38% in Media & Entertainment, and 13% in services. The M&E proportion is expected to rise with the arrival of the big fishes.

Because the business success is guaranteed. All the industry's major players have decided to join the party : TV broadcasters (KBS, SBS, YTN, MBC... ), press groups (DongA, Chosun Ilbo, Hankook Ilbo, Seoul Daily, JoongAng Ilbo...), entertainment majors (CJ E&M is already there...). If you wonder what "old" medias will do there, consider this : press groups are already internet giants, and recent changes in media regulations make possible (and more than probable) aggressive moves and further concentration into the broadcasting arena. No wonder IT and telecom companies are also taking positions : LG Telecom, LG CNS, Trumpf Korea, and Pantech are here, and many others are likely to eventually open a branch there.

Everything is done to nurture the whole media, entertainment, and IT convergence ecosystem :
- Seoul Metropolitan Government provides key enabling infrastructures : a DMC R&D Center (Business-University Collaboration Research Center), a DMC High-Tech Industry Center (low cost lease space), and DMC Ville (serviced residences for foreigners, with SH Corporation). Seoul Business Agency animates the ecosystem and facilitates the emergence of a strong DMC identity.
- the Korean Government also plays a role in the national cluster : the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism operates a Culture Content Center (Korea Creative Content Agency, Korean Film Archive) and a Digital Magic Space (Korea Creative Content Agency), the Ministry of Knowledge Economy the Nuritkum Square (the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, where visitors can experience the future of converging technologies).
- business federations joined the party : the Korea Electronics Association is moving in, and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business operates a SME Global Center
- among other 'convergence' tenants : the Korea German Institute of Technology (KGIT), a digital game stadium, movie and animation studios, the Korea Film Museum...

Now what I saw yesterday was a city in the making, with people living, walking, eating in restaurants, enjoying the shade of the trees on the streets... very much ahead of other places under complete renovation because the business is already there, there's a clear purpose, and a clear roadmap for the next steps. This is not a new town, but a neighborhood with all the ingredients. The only thing is that the Northern half of the "Digital Media Street" - the curvy road in the bar of the "T" - is not yet constructed, which kind of creates a buffer zone of empty lots (the DMC's DMZ ?) between the center and the subway stations. The railways themselves are another frontier, and I hope something will be done to cover or bury them, for a seamless connection and better synergies between Sangam-dong and Susaek-dong. Even though, the DMC is a self-sustaining concept, and very well connected to Seoul and beyond.

3 train / subway stations serve this area :
- North : Susaek Station, Gyeongui Line (built in 1906 to link Seoul with Pyeongyang)
- East : World Cup Stadium Station, Line 6
- at the Northeast corner : DMC Station, the same two lines + AREX, the express line to Incheon and Gimpo airports. The AREX connection will be inaugurated by the end of 2010 : the trip to both airports will be even quicker, and the line will go up to Seoul Station.

The Southern frontier of the DMC is the World Cup Park : a green ocean which used to be the Nanjido landfill, a stinking disgrace completely metamorphosed ahead of the 2002 World Cup. One could almost talk about a Green Cluster now : first comes Najicheon Park, then the two hills of Noeul Park ("Sunset Park", West) and Haneul Park ("Sky Park", Center), plus the Pyounghwa Park (East, connected to the World Cup Stadium), and to the South, between the Gangbyeon Expressway and the Han river, the Nanji Hangang Park. Nanji meaning "orchild" and Nanji-do "orchild island", the name used to be a joke when the place was covered with garbage. But yesterday, at the top of Haneul Park, overlooking the DMC, the Stadium, the other side of the river, I could hardly believe how this previously forsaken place was blooming with nature.

The Mapo-gu I knew 20 years ago has dramatically changed, an industrial nightmare evolving into a greener and more service oriented district. Of course, many neighborhoods have always been charming and lively, but the "gu" long suffered from its key location as a logistics hub : a Western gate to the capital city, Mapo is a major entry point for ships (Mapo actually owes its name to a ferry crossing the Hangang), and a major axis for ground transports. The main road bordering the DMC, Susaekno, leads straight to Goyang to the West, and to Gwanghwamun to the East : on the way, it becomes Seongsanno (between Yonsei and Ehwa Universities), and then Sajikno, Yulgokno... City Hall is only 7 km away, Yeouido 5 km, and the nearby expressway provide shortcuts to Northeast Seoul (Naebu Expressway), and both sides of the Han river (ie Gangnam or the future Yongsan IBD via Gangbyeon Expressway).

Location, focus, purpose, strong political support... all key success factors are here. Over the next years, this new cluster might suck quite a few businesses from other parts of the city (ie Mok-dong for TVs, Yeouido for LG, downtown for press groups), but in Korea more than anywhere else, natures abhors a vacuum and one shouldn't worry for them*.
Seoul Village 2010

DMC's website : dmc.seoul.go.kr

* I'm being ironic here. New Towns are never a zero sum game.