Seoul

Seoul (officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City) is South Korea’s capital and its largest city, as well as the largest city in all of Korea. The wider Seoul Metropolitan Area—which includes Seoul itself, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon—was the sixth-largest metropolitan economy in the world as of 2022, trailing only New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris, and London. This region is home to more than half of South Korea’s population. Seoul’s own population once topped 10 million, but it has been slowly declining since 2014; as of 2024, it sits at roughly 9.6 million.

The city’s history stretches back to 18 BC, when it was founded by the Baekje people, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. During the Joseon dynasty, Seoul was officially made the capital and was ringed by the Fortress Wall of Seoul. In the early 1900s, Japan occupied the city and temporarily renamed it Keijō (Gyeongseong in Korean). The Korean War brought intense fighting, with Seoul changing hands four times and ending up largely in ruins.

After the war, the city underwent major reconstruction and rapid urbanization. Since 2012, the de facto administrative capital has been gradually shifting to the planned city of Sejong, about 121 kilometers south. By 2019, Sejong housed 10 of South Korea’s 18 government ministries. However, the Constitutional Court of Korea ruled in 2004 that Seoul must remain the national capital, calling it an “unwritten constitutional custom” that could only be changed by a nationwide referendum.

In 2015, Arcadis rated Seoul Asia’s most livable city and second in the world for quality of life. Its GDP per capita (PPP) is around $40,000. The Seoul Capital Area is home to 15 Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, LG, and Hyundai, and hosts major tech hubs like Gangnam and Digital Media City. The city ranks seventh on the Global Power City Index and the Global Financial Centres Index, and it is one of the top five cities globally for hosting conferences.

Major events held here include the 1986 Asian Games, the 1988 Summer Olympics, the 2010 G20 Seoul summit, and three matches during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Geographically, Seoul sits in a mountainous, hilly area, with Bukhansan to its north. Within the Seoul Capital Area are five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeokgung, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo, Namhansanseong, and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon dynasty. The city has also seen a boom in modern architecture, with landmarks such as N Seoul Tower, the 63 Building, Lotte World Tower, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lotte World, the Trade Tower, COEX, IFC Seoul, and Parc1.

Seoul was named World Design Capital in 2010 and serves as the national hub for music, entertainment, and culture, fueling K-pop and the Korean Wave’s global reach. Toponymy The word seoul is a native Korean common noun meaning “capital city,” not a Sino-Korean term. It is thought to come from Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla. The Baekje capital Wiryeseong was located in what is now Seoul.

Over time, the city has been known by many names: Bukhansan-gun (Goguryeo era), Namcheon (Silla era), Hanyang (Northern and Southern States period), Namgyeong (Goryeo era), and Hanseong (Joseon era). By the 17th century, people commonly called the Joseon capital “seoul” in everyday speech. French missionaries wrote it as Séoul, leading to the modern romanization. Under Japanese rule, the city was renamed Keijō to avoid confusion with the Chinese associations of the hanja for Hanseong.

After liberation, Seoul became the official name. The Standard Korean Language Dictionary still lists seoul as both a common noun and a proper noun. Because it is not a Sino-Korean word, Seoul has no inherent Hanja. In Chinese, it was historically called Hànchéng (from Hanseong), but on January 18, 2005, the Seoul Metropolitan Government changed the official Chinese name to Shǒu'ěr, a phono-semantic match using the character for “head” or “first.”

History Prehistory Evidence shows humans lived in the Seoul area 30,000 to 40,000 years ago. Around 4,000 BC, people built sunken-floor huts called umjip. By 3,000 BC, they cooked grain and ate fish. Around 1,500 BC, communities entered the Bronze Age and began farming on a larger scale. Due to modern development, the Amsa-dong Prehistoric Site is the only major Stone Age site in Seoul, though smaller finds have been made across the city and along the Han River basin, often through rescue archaeology.