Dave McNally Photography

Pho­tos, story by Dave McNally

Seoul is a major metrop­o­lis with con­ve­niences and cul­ture one might expect to find in any mod­ern nation. It is Korea’s largest city, and cap­i­tal to the republic.

There are so many things to do and see in Seoul.

Pub­lic parks, zoos, muse­ums, tem­ples, cul­tural activ­i­ties, con­certs, sport­ing events and even moun­tain trails are just a few exam­ples of what city life offers.

Life was not always this way in this ancient city. Before Christo­pher Colum­bus set sail for the new world, Seoul was a major city in north­east Asia.

His­to­ri­ans date the set­tle­ment of Seoul to 18 B.C. with the estab­lish­ment of the Baekje King­dom. To this day, sev­eral city walls remain in South­ern Seoul dat­ing from this era.

 Now, with more than 11 mil­lion inhab­i­tants, the city is the thriv­ing eco­nomic heart and soul of the Korean people.

Twenty-four per­cent of the Repub­lic of Korea’s pop­u­la­tion resides in Seoul and its sur­round­ing suburbs.

Dur­ing the Japan­ese occu­pa­tion of Korea 1910–45, the city was renamed “Keijo.” But, with the end of World War II and evic­tion of the Japan­ese occu­pa­tion forces, Kore­ans returned the city to its right­ful name.

The peo­ple of Seoul suf­fered greatly dur­ing the Korean War, 1950–53. Mil­lions died. Seoul took the brunt of the destruc­tion. With at least 191,000 build­ings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 fac­to­ries destroyed in Seoul dur­ing the war, res­i­dents became home­less refugees left with lit­tle more than dev­as­ta­tion and hunger.

The Korean peo­ple are intel­li­gent and eager to advance.

With a lit­er­acy rate of 98.6 per­cent, Korean empha­sis on edu­ca­tion brings in a large annual har­vest of uni­ver­sity grad­u­ates. The country’s top learn­ing cen­ters are all in Seoul.

Seoul is a vibrant city, alive with his­tory and lean­ing toward the future.