1.
Rapid transit
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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains and they are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land, variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn. The worlds first rapid-transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a railway in 1863. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, china has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world. The worlds longest single-operator rapid transit system by length is the Shanghai Metro. The worlds largest single rapid transit service provider by both length of revenue track (665 miles and number of stations is the New York City Subway. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. One of these terms may apply to a system, even if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In Scotland, however, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway, in the US, underground mass transit systems are primarily known as subways, whereas the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. In that vein, Chicagos commuter rail system, serving the area, is called Metra. Exceptions in naming rapid transit systems are Washington DCs subway system the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, and the Miami Metrorail, the opening of Londons steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant, experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient, faster and cleaner than steam, in 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Both railways were merged into London Underground. The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset, budapest in Hungary and Glasgow, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services, hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems
2.
Han River (Korea)
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The Han River or Hangang is a major river in South Korea and the fourth longest river on the Korean peninsula after the Amnok, Tuman, and Nakdong rivers. The river begins as two rivers in the eastern mountains of the Korean peninsula, which then converge near Seoul. The Han River and its area have played an important role in Korean history. The Three Kingdoms of Korea strove to control of this land. However, the river is no longer used for navigation. The river serves as a source for over 12 million Koreans. In July 2000, the US military admitted to having dumped toxic chemicals in the river, currently, the lower stretches of the Han river are lined with pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths, public parks and restaurants, particularly in Seoul. The Han is formed by the confluence of the Namhan River, which originates in Mount Daedeok, and the Bukhan River, the River flows through Seoul and then merges with the Rimjin River shortly before it flows into the Yellow Sea. The two major branches of the river, the Namhan River and the Bukhan River, come together at Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi province and it then passes through Seoul and continues on to the Yellow Sea. Broad tidal flats can be found at the mouth of the Han River, the total length of the Han River is approximately 494 kilometres. Although it is not a river, the lower Han is remarkably broad for such a relatively short river. Within Seoul city limits, the river is more than 1 kilometre wide, prior to the construction of a number of major dams, the river was known for its huge coefficient of river regime of 1,390. The Namhangang is sometimes, but not always, referred to as the Han in South Korea, the term South Han is understood irrespective of which side of the border one stands. Even though Namhan and Bukhan are homophones with the acronyms Namhan and Bukhan, used commonly in South Korea, the hanja for the Han River is not 韓 but 漢. It is also easily mistaken with the use of 漢 in Seouls older name, 漢城 where 漢 does not refer to Chinese people, Han River has been called by different names through the course of Korean history. During the period of the Han Commanderies on the peninsula and the part of the three kingdoms period the river was often referred to as the Daesu. The state of Goguryeo called it the Arisu, Baekje called it the Ungniha, while the kingdom of Silla termed it the Iha. The Han River has played a role in Korean history from the earliest times
3.
Insa-dong
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Insa-dong is a dong, or neighborhood of the Jongno-gu district of the South Korean city of Seoul. The main street is Insadong-gil, which is connected to a multitude of alleys that lead deeper into the district, with modern galleries, at one time it was the largest market for antiques and artworks in Korea. In area,12.7 hectares, the district is bordered by Gwanhun-dong to the north, Nagwon-dong to the east, and Jongno 2-ga and Jeokseon-dong to the south, Insadong was originally two towns whose names ended in the syllables In and Sa. They were divided by a stream which ran along Insadongs current main street, Insadong began 500 years ago as an area of residence for government officials. During the early period of the Joseon Dynasty, the place belonged to Gwanin-bang and Gyeonpyeong-bang - bang was the name of a unit during the time - of Hanseong. During the Japanese occupation, the wealthy Korean residents were forced to move and sell their belongings, after the end of the Korean War, the area became a focus of South Koreas artistic and cafe life. It was a popular destination among visitors to South Korea during the 1960s. It gained in popularity with tourists during the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 2000 the area was renovated, and, after protest, in recent years the backstreets of Insadong have continued to be gentrified with cafes, garden restaurants, and traditional pension-style accommodations. Insadong-gil is well known as a street to both locals and foreigners and represents the culture of the past and the present. It contains a mixture of historical and modern atmosphere and is an area of Seoul that truly represents the cultural history of the nation. The majority of the traditional buildings originally belonged to merchants and bureaucrats, some larger residences, built for retired government officials during the Joseon period, can also be seen. Most of these buildings are now used as restaurants or shops. The area is known for sightseeing, with approximately 100,000 visitors on Sundays reported in 2000. Insadong is also a spot for foreign dignitaries such as Queen Elizabeth II and the princes of Spain. It contains 40 percent of the antique shops and art galleries as well as 90 percent of the traditional stationery shops. Particularly noteworthy is Tongmungwan, the oldest bookstore in Seoul, and Kyung-in Art Gallery, there are daily calligraphy demonstrations and pansori dancing performances. Ssamzigil, a mall that concentrates in specialty stores of handcrafts, is also a prominent destination in Insadong
4.
AREX
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AREX, spelled AREX as a brand name, is a South Korean commuter rail line that links Seoul with Gimpo Airport and Incheon International Airport. The section between the two opened on March 23,2007, the extension to Seoul Station opened December 29,2010. Korea Train Express high speed trains started to use the line in June 30,2014, the line was initially announced in July 1998 as the Incheon International Airport Railroad, abbreviated IREX. The project was launched as South Koreas first build-operate-transfer franchise, the concession was won by a consortium of 11 Korean companies, which incorporated as the Incheon International Airport Railroad Company in March 2001. The original main shareholders were Hyundai, POSCO, Daelim, Dongbu, after significant delays, construction of the line started in 2001, after the opening of Incheon Airport. About 60% of the line is underground, and reaches Yeongjong Island, which hosts Incheon International Airport, on the deck of Yeongjong Bridge. The line and the company was renamed AREX in June 2006. The first 37.6 km segment from Incheon International Airport Station to Gimpo International Airport Station opened on March 23,2007, in March 2009, Korail acquired an 88. 8% share of the company. Upon the acquisition, the company changed its name to Korail Airport Railroad as of November 30,2009. Phase 2 of the line is from Gimpo International Airport Station to Seoul Station, including a depot section, the full length of the line is 61.7 km. At Gimpo Airport the line is underground and heads north-east and rises to the surface to cross the Han River on the Magok Railway Bridge, the line descends into a tunnel and curves to the east. The city of Incheon requested that AREX add three new stations, tentatively named Cheongna International City, Yeongjong and Yongyu. The stations were planned to open with the second phase of the line. Cheongna International City Station, located west of Geomam was opened on June 21,2014, Yeongjong station, located near the eastern part of the airport island, opened on March 26,2016. The station was constructed as a shell with two side platforms only, but underwent a conversion to fit in two outer tracks on each platform to allow for bypass moves. Earlier plans to link Yongsan Station have been dropped, however, KTX service began to run to Incheon International Airport on June 30,2014. The trains stops 2 stations on the line, Geomam & Incheon International Airport, on September 1,2010, the South Korean government announced a strategic plan to reduce travel times from Seoul to 95% of the country to under 2 hours by 2020. As part of the plan, the AREX line is to be upgraded for 230 km/h
5.
Gyeongchun Line
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The Gyeongchun Line is a regional rail line between Seoul and Chuncheon operated by Korail. The name of the line is derived from Gyeong and Chuncheon, the line was reconstructed in a new alignment in its entirety in the 2000s. Rail service operates between Sangbong Station on the Jungang Line in eastern Seoul and Chuncheon Station as part of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system since December 21,2010. A class of rail service named ITX-Cheongchun began operations on February 28,2012, linking Chuncheon to Cheongnyangni. The original Gyeongchun Line was opened along its length of 87.3 km between Seongbuk Station, on the Gyeongwon Line, to Chuncheon on July 20,1939. In South Korea, Chuncheon was the most popular destination for students on orientation trips, the line was upgraded into an electrified and double-tracked line for 180 km/h. Between Geumgok and Chuncheon, from 1997 until 2010, the line was re-laid in a straighter,64.2 km long alignment with a budget of 2.151,931 billion won. The remaining 17.9 km of the line was built with a separate budget of 574.124 billion won. Towards Seoul, after Toegyewon Station, this section of the new line diverges from the old alignment that ended in Seongbuk, the new alignment was originally planned to be opened in 2004, but completion of the works was delayed for various reasons, including lack of funds. The complete new alignment opened and the old one closed on December 21,2010, on September 1,2010, the South Korean government announced a strategic plan to reduce travel times from Seoul to 95% of the country to under 2 hours by 2020. As part of the plan, the Gyeongchun Line is to be upgraded for 230 km/h. For the longer term, the government also considers to build a parallel high-speed line that would continue beyond Chuncheon to Sokcho on South Koreas east coast, on November 4,2016, two trains were added to the line. These trains run to and from Kwangwoon University Station, allowing for transfers to Line 1, on September 26,2016, the line was extended to Cheongnyangni Station to improve access to regional trains at the station. When the new Gyeongchun Line opened on December 21,2010, passenger service was integrated into the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system, compared to the previous Mugunghwa-ho train service on the Gyeongchun Line, fares dropped by half. For the service, Hyundai Rotem supplied Korail with fifteen eight-car Class 361000 EMUs, on February 28,2012, Korail introduced ITX service, which uses Class 368000 trains with double-deck cars. From Chuncheon Station, the fastest ITX trains take 52 minutes to Cheongnyangni Station, the base fare is 9800 won between Chuncheon and Yongsan, currently it has a 30% discount. The express service was phased out along with the advent of the ITX service, the following stations are along the Gyeongui-Jungang Line. Korail Transportation in South Korea List of Korea-related topics
6.
Hangul
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The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul in South Korea and as Chosŏngŭl/Chosŏn Muntcha in North Korea is the alphabet that has been used to write the Korean language since the 15th century. It was created during the Joseon Dynasty in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, in South Korea, Hangul is used primarily to write the Korean language as using Hanja in typical Korean writing had fallen out of common usage during the late 1990s. In its classical and modern forms, the alphabet has 19 consonant and 21 vowel letters, however, instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latin alphabet, Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, such as 한 han, each of which transcribes a syllable. That is, although the syllable 한 han may look like a single character, each syllabic block consists of two to six letters, including at least one consonant and one vowel. These blocks are arranged horizontally from left to right or vertically from top to bottom. Each Korean word consists of one or more syllables, hence one or more blocks, of the 11,172 possible Hangul syllables, the most frequent 256 have a cumulative frequency of 88. 2%, with the top 512, it reaches 99. 9%. The modern name Hangul was coined by Ju Sigyeong in 1912, han meant great in archaic Korean, and geul is the native Korean word for script. Taken together, then, the meaning is great script, as the word han had also become one way of indicating Korea as a whole the name could also potentially be interpreted as Korean script. Korean 한글 is pronounced, and in English as /ˈhɑːn. ɡʊl/ or /ˈhɑːŋɡʊl/, when used as an English word, it is often rendered without the diacritics, hangul, and it is often capitalized as Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries. Hankul in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies, North Koreans call it Chosŏngŭl, after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea. Because of objections to the names Hangeul, Chosŏngŭl, and urigeul by Koreans in China, until the early 20th century, Hangul was denigrated as vulgar by the literate elite, who preferred the traditional hanja writing system. They gave it such names as these, Achimgeul, in the original Hanja, it is rendered as 故智者不終朝而會，愚者可浹旬而學。 Gugmun Eonmun Amgeul. Am is a prefix that signifies a noun is feminine Ahaetgeul or Ahaegeul Hangul was promulgated by Sejong the Great, the Hall of Worthies, a group of scholars who worked with Sejong to develop and refine the new alphabet, is often credited for the work. The project was completed in late December 1443 or January 1444, the publication date of the Hunmin Jeong-eum, October 9, became Hangul Day in South Korea. Its North Korean equivalent, Chosongul Day, is on January 15, various speculations about the creation process were put to rest by the discovery in 1940 of the 1446 Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye. This document explains the design of the consonant letters according to articulatory phonetics, to assuage this problem, King Sejong created the unique alphabet known as Hangul to promote literacy among the common people. However, it entered popular culture as Sejong had intended, being used especially by women, the late 16th century, however, saw a revival of Hangul, with gasa literature and later sijo flourishing. In the 17th century, Hangul novels became a major genre, by this point spelling had become quite irregular
7.
Seoul
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The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
8.
Yongsan District
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Yongsan District is a district of Seoul, South Korea. Its name means Dragon Hill, derived from the characters for dragon. It sits to the north of the Han River under the shadow of Seoul Tower and it is in the center of Seoul. It is home to roughly 250,000 people and is divided into 20 dong, notable locations in Yongsan District include Yongsan Station, the sprawling Yongsan Electronics Market, Haebangchon and the Itaewon commercial district. Itaewon is widely known as one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Korea, many foreigners gravitate to its shopping centers and nightlife. Yongsan District is the site of Yongsan Garrison, a large United States military base in the heart of Seoul, because of the scarcity of land in central Seoul, as well as the consolidation of U. S. Forces throughout the Korean Peninsula, the U. S. after its relocation, the 243 ha of its land is planned to be developed into a large park. Sookmyung Womens University is in the portion of this district. Nearby, the legendary bar Doors has been a hub of Sookmyung social life for years, there is a growing community of Muslims and others from the Middle East due to the location of Seouls only mosque, Seoul Central Mosque in Itaewon. This immigration trend has caused a number of restaurants and shops to open in the area. N Seoul Tower has been re-opened, the tower is at the top of Namsan. It was built as a television transmitter, Yongsan is served by Seoul Subway Line 1, Line 4, Line 6, and the Jungang Line. It is expected to be opened by 2016, Yongsan District is famous for K-pop label companies including H2 Media Entertainment and TS Entertainment. The Ministry of National Defense has its headquarters in Yongsan-dong, International schools, German School Seoul International Yongsan International School of Seoul Centennial Christian School The French School of Seoul was in Hannam-dong. In 1985 it moved to Seorae Village in Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu
9.
Seoul Subway Line 4
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Seoul Subway Line 4 of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is a long line crossing from the southwest to the northeast across the Seoul National Capital Area. This is operated by both Korail and Seoul Metro, the southern terminus is in Jeongwang 4-dong, Siheung City, and the northern terminus is in Sanggye 4-dong, Nowon-gu, northern Seoul. The Transportation and Construction Committee of the National Assembly has approved that the end of Line 4 will be extended from Danggogae to Jinjeop. Construction will begin in 2015 with completion date in 2019, several stations will be added from Danggogae Station. Construction is set to begin in 2015 with a target of 2019. Turnback siding after Danggogae Station Changdong Depot Connecting track to Line 3 before Chungmuro Station Dongjak Bridge Chongshin Univ
