Seoul

Clockwise from top left: N Seoul Tower, Moonlight Rainbow Fountain, Gangnam, Samsung Tower Palace, 63 Building and Namdaemun

Flag
Emblem of Seoul


Map of South Korea with Seoul highlighted
Coordinates: 37°34′08″N 126°58′36″E / 37.56889°N 126.97667°E / 37.56889; 126.97667Coordinates: 37°34′08″N 126°58′36″E / 37.56889°N 126.97667°E / 37.56889; 126.97667
Country  South Korea
Region Seoul National Capital Area
Districts
Government
 - Type Seoul Metropolitan Government
 - Mayor Oh Se-hoon
Area
 - Special City 605.25 km² (233.7 sq mi)
Population (2009)
 - Special City 10,464,051
 - Density 17,288/km² (44,775.7/sq mi)
 - Metro 24,472,063
 - Demonym Seoulite,서울시민(Seoul Shee-Min)
 - Dialect Seoul
Flower Forsythia
Tree Ginkgo
Bird Magpie
Website seoul.go.kr

Seoul (Korean pronunciation: [sʌ.ul]  ( listen)), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 12 million, it is one of the largest cities in the world The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the Incheon metropolis and most of Gyeonggi province, has 24.5 million inhabitants, and is the world's second largest metropolitan area. Almost half of South Korea's population live in the Seoul National Capital Area, and nearly a quarter in Seoul itself, making it the country's foremost economic, political, and cultural center.

Seoul is located on the Han River in the center of the Korean Peninsula, and was settled in 18 B.C. when Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, established its capital in what is now south-east Seoul. The city then became the capital of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire.

Seoul is considered to be a global city. It is one of the world's top ten financial and commercial centers, home to large conglomerates such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai-Kia. In 2008, Seoul was named the world's sixth most economically powerful city by Forbes.com In 2007, Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked Seoul 87th in the world among major cities for quality of life.

Seoul has a technologically advanced infrastructure. Its Digital Media City has been a test-bed for various IT and multimedia applications. Seoul was the first city to feature DMB, a digital mobile TV technology and WiBro, a wireless high-speed mobile internet service. It has a fast, high-penetration 100Mbps fibre-optic broadband network, which is being upgraded to 1Gbps by 2012. Seoul Station houses the 350 km/h KTX bullet train and the Seoul Subway is the third largest in the world, with over 200 million passengers every year. Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport.

Seoul was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2010 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design.

Name

The city has been known in the past by the names Wirye-seong (위례성; 慰禮城, Baekje era), Hanju (한주; 漢州, Silla era), Namgyeong (남경; 南京, Goryeo era), Hanseong (한성; 漢城, Baekje and Joseon era), Hanyang (한양; 漢陽, Joseon era), Keijo (경성; 京城, Japanese colonial era). Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning "capital city," which is believed to be derived from the word, Seorabeol (서라벌; 徐羅伐), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla.

Unlike most place names in Korea, "Seoul" has no corresponding hanja (Chinese characters used in the Korean language). The recently chosen Chinese name for Seoul is 首尔 (simplified), 首爾 (traditional) (Shǒuěr), which sounds somewhat similar to "Seoul" when pronounced in Mandarin Chinese.

History