Traditional markets in eastern Seoul to get colorful new face-lift

Traditional markets in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul, will be revamped and digitalized as part of the district's latest push to become one of the top five markets globally, the district office head said Thursday.

The Cheongnyangni Traditional Market in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul, is crowded with customers on Sept. 12. [NEWS1]

Traditional markets in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul, will be revamped and digitalized as part of the district's latest push to become one of the top five markets globally, the district office head said Thursday.

The nine traditional markets in the Cheongnyangni area in Dongdaemun, including the Cheongnyangni Traditional Market that opened in 1948, together will be turned into the so-called rainbow market, in which each market will be designated to a different color so that people can more easily identify them.

All of these markets will be given unified designs, from the roof and walls to the signage, the district office said.

The roofs of each individual market will be connected to form a long-connected rooftop area. The traditional markets each sell different goods from fruits to oriental medicine.

“If you go to the market area in Cheongnyangni right now, the place is very complicated,” Lee Pil-hyeong, the head of Dongdaemun District Office, told reporters during a press tour Thursday.

“So we decided to innovate the area and give it a new concept so that visitors can find the market just by referring to a color.”

For instance, the Gyeongdong Market will be referred to as the purple market and the Seoul Yangnyeong Market as the brown market.

According to Lee, these markets will also be digitalized, equipped with kiosks, to target the younger, more digitally savvy generations.

A new landmark — a parking tower capable of taking in up to 200 vehicles — for the marketplace is planned to be constructed in the area. The tower will also serve as a center for the area’s logistics management.

The nine markets, with over 2,000 stores, are all located between Cheongnyangni Station and Jegidong Station along subway line No. 1.

The area near Seoul Yangnyeong Market, known in Korea for selling oriental medicine, was also selected by the city government as one of the six areas that will be developed into a hanok village. Hanok refers to a traditional Korean house.

The district office aims to complete the marketplace revamp by 2030, in line with the opening of the Great Train Express (GTX)-B metro in 2030 and GTX-C in 2028.

The GTX-B metro line will cover around 83 kilometers (52 miles) of ground, connecting Incheon National University Station in Yeonsu District, Incheon, to Maseok Station in Namyangju, Gyeonggi. The GTX-C metro line will cover around 75 kilometers, from Deokjeong Station in Yangju to Suwon, both in Gyeonggi. A metro transfer center will also be constructed by January 2029 at Cheongnyangni Station.

Lee Pil-hyeong, the head of Dongdaemun District, shares the blueprint for the development of the Cheongnyangni area with reporters at a community center on Thursday. [DONGDAEMUN DISTRICT OFFICE]

“Dongdaemun District will be developed as the center of transportation, business, commerce and culture as Cheongnyangni transforms into a new place following the development of the traditional markets and the GTX-B and –C metro lines passing the area,” the head of the district office said.

On the same day, Lee visited a temporary flower garden in the district's Jennong-dong, the land of which will house a public library by 2029.

Tentatively named the Seoul Metropolitan Dong-Daemun Library, it is planned to be more than two times the size of the Seoul Metropolitan Library.

The 16,899-square-meter (182,000-square-foot) plot was turned into a large flower garden, in Korean called the Garden of Knowledge, as of Sept. 21.

The site had previously been fenced and unused for many years.

In 2006, an initial plan to construct a school on the land was scrapped as the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education disapproved the plan, citing a declining number of students.

As different complaints regarding the abandoned site continued, including the illegal dumping of garbage in the area, the district office decided to transform the plot into a green area that could offer the residents a moment to relax.

The head of Dongdaemun District Office Lee Pil-hyeong, center, introduces a temporary flower garden in Jeonnong-dong, a site for the district's future public library, to reporters during a press tour held on Thursday. [DONGDAEMUN DISTRICT OFFICE]

Surrounded by apartment complexes, stores and schools, many students and children were spotted walking and running around the large, open area. Elderly residents living in the area were also seen taking pictures of the colorful flowers.

The district office plans to plant more species, including poppy flowers, next year.

Lee said that there will still be green areas after the public library is built, scheduled for September 2029. The library will take up around 25,000 square meters.

“The major goal of cities in the future will be securing green areas,” Lee said.

The facility will be more of a multi-purpose cultural complex rather than a typical library, Lee said.

Around 226 billion won ($167 million) was set aside for the project.

The district office received five designs during its international design competition for the library and will select the final one in December. The garden field will be maintained through June 2025, before the library construction begins the following month.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]