Seoul, South Korea

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA | "서울 — The City That Rebuilt Itself"

Seoul is the most remarkable urban transformation of the 20th century — a city of 10 million people that was 80% destroyed during the Korean War of 1950 to 1953 and rebuilt itself into the most technologically advanced, culturally innovative, and economically dynamic capital in Asia within a single generation. The city is simultaneously a 600-year-old Joseon Dynasty capital of palaces, Confucian academies, and stone-paved alleyways, and the global capital of K-pop, Korean cinema, Korean food, and the most sophisticated consumer electronics and beauty industry in the world. The five grand palaces of the Joseon period — Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, and Gyeonghuigung — anchor the historic center while the neon corridors of Gangnam, the indie music venues of Hongdae, and the street food markets of Gwangjang represent the contemporary city that the world has come to know through cinema and music.

The colors are the dramatic palette of a city in perpetual creative energy: the deep blue of the Han River at sunset seen from the Namsan tower, the brilliant white and terracotta of the Gyeongbokgung Palace against the Bugaksan mountain behind it, the electric pink and purple of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza at night, and the extraordinary crimson of the maple leaves at Changdeokgung Secret Garden in October when the Joseon palace grounds become the most beautiful autumn landscape in Northeast Asia.