Old photos of Jeollanam-do and Gwangju.

Taken in front of the Jeollanam-do Provincial Office, 1941.


Sajik Park observatory in the foreground, Gwangju and Mudeungsan in the background.


Chosun University under construction, 1951.

For a while I've been collecting old photos of Jeollanam-do and Gwangju---politically part of South Jeolla province since 1986---and recently started to put them in one place. Finding pictures of what southwestern Korea used to look like is generally much harder than finding old photographs of Seoul, and even Pyeongyang. Some local governments, schools, and charitable organizations have fortunately documented and preserved the photographic history of the region.


English class in Suncheon under Japanese rule.


Suncheon Fortress's South Gate in the 1920s, at the present-day location of the entrance of the 중앙시장 in "Old Downtown".


Aerial view of Suncheon, 1960s.

About 200 more, and growing, on the Old Jeollanam-do Flickr gallery. Sources have been cited when possible, though a lot of these have circulated on numerous blogs throughout the years and it's hard to pin down dates, details, and credits. Frequently Naver bloggers will take old photos, put big watermarks across them, and disable right clicks, leading visitors to believe the best way to preserve local history is to make it inaccessible to everyone else.


뽕뽕다리 across Gwangjucheon, 1960.


Chonnam National University campus, 1959.


Cherry blossoms in Gwangju, 1955.

Three generations of doing the damn thing, at Gwangju's Hotel Mudeung Park lift, 1984. A neat picture by darklunacy found while looking for other stuff.

Gwangju subway's second line coming! In 2022.

Hard to read map, via Newsis.

The Jeonnam Ilbo and Gwangju Ilbo have the latest news on the long-proposed second subway line in Gwangju (광주지하철2호선). Construction will begin after the 2015 Universiade, will proceed in three phases, and is expected to be completed by 2022. Specifics on the second line haven't been finalized yet, but the Jeonnam Ilbo shows roughly what it will look like:

도시철도 2호선의 당초 노선은 효천역~백운광장~남광주역~서방사거리~광주역~동운고가~종합터미널~시청신청사~풍암지구~백운광장이었지만 변경 고시를 통해 시청~운천역~금호지구~월드컵경기장~백운광장(~효천역)~남광주역~광주역~전남대~첨단지구~수완지구~시청 구간 확대 순환선으로 바뀌었다. 정거장 정차시간을 포함한 2호선의 속도는 38.8㎞/hr로 첨단에서 백운광장까지 약 30분이내에 도착할 수 있으며, 1호선과의 연계를 위한 환승역은 운천역과 남광주역으로 계획돼 있다.

For as long as I have been looking at Gwangju subway maps, I've read about plans for additional lines. The subway website even used to have a map showing lines two and three, but it reflected neither reality nor the plans announced in February 2010.

Line 1 opened in August 1996, and the Naver encyclopedia entry says that before the "IMF Crisis"---the Asian Financial Crisis---there were five lines planned for Gwangju, but by 2000 they whittled it down to plans for just two more. The Korean Wikipedia page tells us where those five lines would've gone:

최초 계획

* 1호선(20.60㎞) : 동구 소태동 ~ 금남로 ~ 상무신도시 ~ 광주공항 ~ 광주송정역 ~ 평동산업단지 (1996년 착공 후 2003년 개통 계획)
* 2호선(13.70㎞) : 남구 효천역 - 송암공단 - 백운광장 - 금남로 4가 - 말바우시장 - 북구 문화동 (2004년 착공 후 2009년 개통 계획)
* 3호선(24.00km) : 장성군 월정리 - 광산구 첨단지구 - 양산지구 - 국립광주박물관 - 광주문화예술회관 - 유스퀘어 - 농성 - 백운광장 - 남광주역 - 광주역
* 4호선(28.15㎞) : 광주역 - 전남대학교 - 북구 오치동 - 일곡지구 - 양산지구 - 보훈병원 - 광주시청 - 상무 - 서구 금호지구 - 월드컵경기장 - 금남로 5가 - 광주역
* 5호선(16.60㎞) : 장성군 월정리 - 하남공단 - 광산구 우산동 - 유스퀘어 - 금남로 5가

Because I love subways that would've been awesome, but excessive. And nowadays the buses do cover a lot of this ground, above-ground.

First subway in Gwangju, by 양광삼 기자.

Mudeung Stadium, then and now.

Here's a look at Gwangju's two stadiums in Im-dong in 1965:



And here's how the area looked in March, 2009 via Naver's map system:


According to the Gwangju city webpage, the population in 1965 was 365,611, and in 2010 it was 1,467,996. The old track stadium---opened in 1965---is being replaced with a new baseball stadium for the Kia Tigers' 2014 season.

November 3rd, Students' Day.

Gwangju politicians at the memorial tower on the campus of Gwangju Jeil High School mark Students' Day (학생의날) , which was designated to commemorate the start of the Gwangju Students' Independence Movement (광주학생항일운동) of 1929. It was, says a now-defunct page on the Gwangju Student Independence Movement Memorial Hall website:

a typical national resistance movement against the cruel rule of Japanese colonialism. Its size, the influence it exerted and its historical significance were comparable with that of the huge "Samil Independence Movement".

Gwangju's tourism webpage said in 2009:

In 1953, the government designated Nov. 3rd as "Student Day"in commemoration of the Gwangju Students'Independence Movement and a memorial monument was established in Gwangju Seo Middle School and Il High School in 1954. The day was at one point abolished by the autocratic government before finally being named as "Students'Independence Memorial Day"and elevated to a nationwide memorial day in 2006.

From the 1954 dedication ceremony, via this site.

3D Korea International Film Festival (3D 한국국제영화제) in Gwangju, November 17th through 21st.

The third annual 3D Korea International Film Festival (3D 한국국제영화제) will be held in Gwangju from November 17th through the 21st, it was announced on Wednesday. The festival's site has a list of movies and a schedule, in English and Korean.

Hyundai to build new Gwangju baseball stadium.

Artist's rendition of the new ballpark in Gwangju, from the 전남일보.

On October 20th it was announced that Hyundai Engineering & Construction will build Gwangju's new baseball stadium, home of the Kia Tigers. The site of a future "Culture Park" in Im-dong, it's expected to be done in December 2013 in time for the 2014 season. The new one will sit next to the old one, for now, but will replace and mean the end of Mudeung Stadium (무등경기장 주경기장), built in 1965.

Gwangju and Mudeung Stadium hosted the 46th annual National Sports Festival in 1965, where unfortunately 16 people died in a stampede
on opening day.

Remote English classes continue for Jeollanam-do's island schools.

GFN 98.7 FM writes that the Jeollanam-do Office of Education will continue remote English classes for students on rural, geographically isolated islands in the province.

The Jeollanam-do provincial Office of Education is offering remote English courses from [March 22nd] The teachers are located in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Some 2 thousand students will benefit from the program. These include those studying at sixty-six mini schools on five islands and 52 schools with less than 60 students.
The program has been offered every year since 2009. Last year about 1,300 students learned from native English teachers.
One native teacher handles five students with the assistance of one Korean sub-teacher. Classes will be offered one hour a week for a year.

This blog has done a few posts on similar programs done throughout the country that use teachers in the state of Wyoming and other rural areas to teach Korean students via videoconferencing. Elutian, a Wyoming-based company, had the bright idea to both "insource" jobs to rural America and meet the demand of reduced-cost native speaker English teachers [NESTs] in South Korea, a place turning to robot English teachers, certified Indian teachers, and domestic instructors to cut costs. It has been working with the nearby Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education since 2010, says a September 2010 article attributed to Yonhap:

GMOE disclosed Sep. 30 that, “Surprisingly, over 31,600 students are using the video class service for English conversation with U.S public school teachers.

The project began in earnest the latter part of June and by the end of August 22,300 elementary school students, 7,300 middle school students, and 2,070 high school students are engaged in the service.

Moreover, it is reported that 5,356 students from smaller schools in the farming areas, as well as Education Welfare schools, many of whom need special social consideration, are using the service.

Participating students also study English by directly conversing with the native English speaking teachers one-on-one through their school’s internet video system after school (7:00~11:00 PM).

Early this year GMOE selected 146 instructors from a pool of former and current school teachers, mostly based in Wyoming, US, [Eleutian Technology] for the service. A number of other Korean school district offices of education are now also using live native English video for regular classes, but GMOE is the first one to utilize the service for one-on-one sessions after school hours as well.

While there continues to be a large demand for native English speaking teachers in Korea, there has also been much controversy over the hiring of unqualified instructors. The ongoing GMOE project, however, is recognized as both very cost effective and effective at helping to improve the quality of instruction, as well as student results, through utilizing experienced US public school teachers.

Youtube has examples of the TV teacher in action:



The local office of education has also been operating remote teaching programs with native speaker English teachers from within the province since 2009. For information and teacher-created resources, see the Jeollanamdo Online Program board on Waygook.org.

Choi Jung-hyun junk art show in Gwangju through February 27th.

shared by Gwangju Blog brings us word of a real neat exhibition.



The Usquare Cultural Center---on the second floor of Gwangju's Usquare Bus Terminal---is hosting a junk art show featuring the work of Choi Jung-hyun through February 27th. Titled "반쪽이의 고물 자연사박물관," it's held in the Kumho Gallery next to the Burger King. Hours are 10:30 through 19:00, and admission is 4,000 won.


Choi's snake made from recycled computer parts made him internet famous in 2008.

Don't let your pipes freeze.

Roboseyo reminds readers to be careful in this very cold weather lest the pipes in their apartments freeze overnight.

Until it gets a little less frigid, don't forget to run your taps for a while, and flush your toilets once or twice, at night before you go to bed, so your water pipes don't freeze and explode overnight. The older and smaller the building you live in, the more this applies to you.

If they take these precautions, though, they won't get their apartment in the newspaper, like these folks in Gwangju's Hwajeong-dong.



(1, 2)

Night market for foreigners planned in Gwangju.

From GFN 98.7 FM, translating a Korean-language Chosun Ilbo article:

A night bazaar allowing only foreign tourists to shop will open in Yang-dong Market this year.

According to the city, it is consulting with the market’s merchant association to have clothing and food shops in the market open during the night for foreign tourists who want to shop.

The city expects the market to receive a fervent response from Chinese tourists who have strong buying power.

In the long-term, the city is considering designating certain part of Yang-dong Market as a foreigner only shopping center.

Holiday Inn, Ecograd open in Jeollanam-do.

From the Chosun Ilbo. A search hasn't yet brought up photographs of the hotel's exterior.

Not breaking news for people living in Suncheon, but I just read that Suncheon's classy hotel opened on December 15th. The Ecograd Hotel (에코그라드 호텔) is an 18-floor, 93-meter building in Jorye-dong with six restaurants, two bars, banquet and wedding facilities, a "Roman bath," and twelve types of suites and rooms. It was built to accommodate guests for the 2012 Yeosu Expo nearby and the 2013 World Garden Expo at Suncheon Bay.


From this Naver cafe.


Construction site, July 2009.

From a 경황신문 piece last month I learned that Gwangju opened a Holiday Inn on December 10th, giving the Honam region three first-class hotels, in the article's estimation: Gwangju's Ramada rounds out the trio.


Gwangju's Holiday Inn (홀리데이인 광주) in Chipyeong-dong, from the Chosun Ilbo.

S.M. Entertainment Global Audition in Gwangju: February 27th, 2011.

Via Gwangju Blog's readers comes news of an open audition with media juggernaut S.M. Entertainment in several South Korean cities next February. They're coming to Gwangju on February 27th. Be the next World Star like Rain and BoA! The poster says the "Audition is open without any distinction of age, gender, or nationality," but the information page says that it's open only to Asians.



So even if your dreams of becoming a 31-year-old Caucasian K-pop star who can't sing in Korean or Japanese are now thwarted, it still might be fun to check out the auditions. The location hasn't been posted yet for the auditions in Gwangju or other cities, so check the information page later for details.

Gwangju city's blog wins award at 2010 Korea Blog Awards.

To quote from GFN 98.7 FM, since I can't link directly to their news articles:

Gwangju Metropolitan City’s blog sayGJ.com has won first place in the public organizations sector of the 2010 Korea Blog Award.

The Korea Blog Business Association and the Korea Press Foundation jointly administered the award.

The evaluations considered a blog’s content, activities and communications.

The City’s blog began September 2009 and was recognized for its offerings in the areas of art and culture, tourism, food, and city news.

To this date, the blog has had over 1.8 million hits.

This Korean-language write-up lists other winners. The city has sponsored an English-language blog this year as well, Gwangju Blog.

“Vietnam Scenery and Spirit – Close up the Past, Looking to the Future” exhibition in Gwangju through February 6th.

VOV News writes about a Vietnamese art exhibition in Gwangju from December 16th through February 6th, 2011, at Gwangju's Fine Arts Museum.

The exhibition themed “Vietnam Scenery and Spirit – Close up the Past, Looking to the Future” introduces nearly 50 works of outstanding contemporary artists selected from collections of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum and the Vietnam Fine Arts Association.

The painters include masters graduating from the Indochina Fine Arts College, which was established in 1924 and is the precursor of the Vietnam University of Fine Arts, and well-known painters of next generations.

The paintings, which use a wide range of materials from oil paint, lacquer to silk, are arranged based on historical periods of Vietnam from the 40s of the previous century to the first years of the 21st century. They introduce Vietnamese landscapes, people and their production life, traditional customs, as well as the country’s resistance wars lasting for 30 years.

"베트남의 풍경과 정신" and the museum are in my old neighborhood of Unam-dong, and accessible by eleven different buses that stop in the vicinity. It's open from 9:00 to 6:00, and admission is 500 won for adults.

Gwangju gets new pro soccer team for 2011.

At the team's Grand Open opening ceremony, from the K-League website.

Yonhap tells us that Gwangju will have a new professional soccer team for 2011.

Gwangju FC, the 16th club in South Korea's K-League football, got off the ground with a launching ceremony here in the southern part of the country on Thursday.

At a ceremony attended by Gwangju Mayor Kang Wun-tae and Korea Football Association (KFA) Chairman Cho Chung-yun plus some 2,000 residents, the team's emblem was unveiled for the first time, as players vowed to play hard for their fans.

Gwangju FC will be run on civic funds. About 20,000 people, including Celtic FC midfielder Ki Sung-yueng and LPGA Tour golfer Shin Ji-yai, raised 1.5 billion won (US$1.3 million) to cover the team's operating costs.

광주시민프로축구단 will round out the K-League to 16 teams, and will play at Gwangju's World Cup Stadium starting in March. Gwangju Sangmu FC will move to Sangju, leaving Gwangju FC and Gwangyang's Chunnam Dragons as the two Jeollanam-do teams. Check the Gwangju FC official site later for schedules and ticket information.

Nanta in Gwangju this Christmas.

The comedic drum show Nanta (난타) will be in Gwangju on December 24th and 25th. There will be two performances each day---6:00 and 9:30 on Friday, 2:00 and 6:00 on Saturday---at the Culture and Arts Center (문화예술회관) in Unam-dong. Tickets range from 45,000 to 55,000 won.

The Korea Tourism Organization introduces the show:

'NANTA' figuratively refers to reckless punching as in a boxing match. 'NANTA' is a non-verbal performance of free rhythmical movements that dramatize customary Korean percussions in a strikingly comedic stage show. Integrating unique Korean traditional drumbeats in a western performance style, NANTA storms into a huge kitchen where four capricious cooks are preparing a wedding banquet. While cooking, they turn all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles, brooms and even each other- into percussion instruments.

My then-fiancee and I went to the performance last Christmas in Suncheon and had an excellent time.

Gwangju's Kia Tigers to get new home in 2014.

The Korea Times writes on something that came up during the last gubernatorial election: a new home for their Kia baseball Tigers.

Kia announced Tuesday that it has decided to invest 30 billion won in Gwangju city’s plan to construct the stadium.

The new arena is expected to open for the Korea professional baseball league beginning in 2014.

The team based in South Jeolla Province will invest 10 billion won each year from 2011 to contribute to the total investment of 100 billion won.

Gwangju City has already secured 10 billion won while the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also earmarked a budget of 30 billion won.

The stadium will be part of a sports complex, which will be built just next to the Tigers’ present home.

The stadium plans to accommodate 25,000 spectators and the current arena will be used for the Gwangju Univerisiade in 2015 and for local citizens.

Gwangju International Film Festival (광주국제영화제), December 9th - 12th.

The 10th Gwangju International Film Festival (광주영화제) will run from December 9th to 12th at the Megabox downtown (map). Under the program tab on the official site you'll find lists of the dozen or so films playing, though information is limited in Korean: times, locations, and subtitle choices are not yet posted under the 상영안내 tab.

The English tab looks to be just for decoration.

Gwangju to get country's first coffee and cocoa museum.

So says GFN's local news page:

Under an exchange agreement signed last month with the Deok-won Group in Malaysia, Chunnam Techno College is opening a coffee and cocoa museum in Nambu University, Gwangju. Chunnam Techno College trains baristas in its Hotel, Tourism and Cocktail Department.

. . .

Opening later next year, the museum will show how plantations grow coffee and cocoa trees and how they produce and process various beans.

It will also provide various public programs, including coffee tastings at its in-house café.

It will be the country's first museum devoted to mixing espresso and hot water coffee and cocoa museum. Korean-language article here from Yonhap.