South Korea’s capital city is a dazzling, frenetic assault on the senses. Modern rebuilding efforts after the Korean War in the 1950s made it look like something from the film Bladerunner. At night, neon pink flashes against a sky misted by traffic pollution; overhead highways crisscross the scene; and locals knock back Hite beers in tiny bars as K-Pop blasts from the speakers. If someone told you you were on a different planet, you could perhaps be convinced.
But aside from its dazzling skyscrapers, Olympic stadia and omnipresent flashing advertising boards, there’s also a deep sense of history and culture in Seoul. You can learn about the March 1st Movement, the reading of the Korean Declaration of Independence in 1919, and the start of organised resistance to Japanese colonisation of Korea at a museum that opened in 2018 inside Anguk Metro Station. The museum catalogues this freedom-fighting story and points visitors to the many sites around the station linked with the independence struggle.
