Restoring Seoul Fortress Wall

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced plans to restore its 18.6km-long, 615-year-old Seoul Fortress by 2014. The restoration project will join together the city’s four gates and encompassing mountains.

King Taejo, founder of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), built the wall as a means of securing the city. However, much of the architecture was later destroyed during the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953).

To date, Seoul has restored 12.2kms of the wall to its original form. The new plan will also include new trekking courses and a several other tourist attractions.

City officials are seeking to include Seoul Fortress on UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2015.

You can grab more info from an article I wrote for Yonhap here.