Two mysterious unrelated murders happened in Itaewon in 1997 and 2001. One was famous. The other was forgotten. Part two of our History of Itaewon covers Itaewon’s rise as a trendy hotspot, its rapid demise, and its future.

Join our Patreon to get more stuff

https://patreon.com/darksideofseoul

Book a tour of The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk at https://darksideofseoul.com

Listener Mail! Send us a message (Instagram, Facebook, email) and we might read it on air.

Music by Soraksan

Top tier Patrons

Angel Earl

Joel Bonomini

Jamie Staley

Shaaron Cullen

Devon Hiphner

Minseok Lee

Laura Casey
Jane Hargrave

Sarah Ford

Alix Radilla
Ryan Berkebile 

Top of Gyungridan 1970s

NOTES

Map for reference

• Some clarifications from last time
  • (1906) The Japanese forcibly relocated Itaewon and Dunjimi villages 
    • Resettled in the area currently around the Hamilton Hotel and Itaewon Market and renamed that area “Itaewon”

• (1997) First area designated as a tourist zone
  • Myeong-dong and Dongdaemun followed
  • Meant that multilingual police were stationed there
  • Subway ***
• Famous crimes
  • Burger King murder
  • Jamie Penich murder (St. Patrick’s Day, 2001)
    • This is a good summary https://www.reddit.com/r/Pitt/comments/jbwi9m/never_knew_about_this_case_before/
    • Jamie was a 21-year-old student spending a semester in an exchange program in Daegu
    • Mysterious that other students at the goshiwon didn’t hear much beyond a struggle
    • Korean YouTube podcast about it

• (2010s) 맛집 movement started by Hong Seok-chon and Vatos and the craft beer movement– made it more local friendly
  • Became a place where Koreans could experience world cultures without a passport
  • JYP (Park Jin-young) and Yoo Se-yoon‘s hip hop duo UV released the song “Itaewon Freedom” in April 2011

• • (~2012) Development behind Hamilton Hotel
    • Knocked down buildings and connected roads, opening it up
    • Foreigners pushed out by Koreans and corporations
      • Stalwart foreign-owned businesses closed down or moved away
        • Three Alley Pub, Le Saint-Ex, OK2
        • Replaced by Korean-owned and Korean-friendly pseudo-foreign restaurants
      • Overhead: “Itaewon would be great if there weren’t so many foreigners.”
  • Gyungridan-gil
    • Named after 국군재정관리단 Armed Forces Financial Management Group
      • Some still call it Jeonggyeongdan
    • Consists of the area around Hoenamu-ro from the AFFMG to the Hyatt Hotel
    • Mostly farmland until the Hyatt was built (1970s)
    • Jeil Market
      • Since Korean War
    • Mainly residential area for foreigners
    • The Craft Beer explosion
      • (2010) Craftworks
      • (2012) Magpie
      • (2013) The Booth
    • Explosion
      • X-ridan-gil entered the vernacular
        • Mangridan-gil (Mangwon), Jungnidan (Jungnim-ro, Jungnim-dong), Yongridan-gil (Sinyongsan Station)
        • Busan: Harridan-gil (Haeundae), Beomridan-gil (Beomeosa-ro), Jeonridan-gil (Jeonpo-dong)
    • When base started moving, buildings opened up for commercial purposes
      • Corporations and celebrities bought up buildings
        • Celebrities get better real estate info than the general public
          • “Where there is gentrification, there are celebrities”
            • Heavy real estate investors because of their unstable careers
          • (2012-2014) Buildings snatched up by celebrities from Hangangjin, Itaewon, Gyungridan
            • Psy, Gong Hyo-jin, Maya, Tae Jin-ah, Jo In-seong, Park Ji-yeon, Jang Dong-gun
        • Gil Yong-woo’s son (Gil Seong-jin, married to Hyundai Motors chairman)
          • (2015, five days before Lunar New Year) Gathered the owners of eight stores to greet them as the new building owner and told them they would be evicted
          • Became Namsan Chemistry 
  • Collapse (2017 to now)
    • Closure of base
    • Poor parking
    • Building owners raised the rent, sold it, and left
      • Not really gentrified. Just gutted. No improvements were made, and it wasn’t turned into an upscale yuppie area.
    • Coronavirus
    • Whole buildings lie empty
    • Itaewon Class
• Future plans
  • Dragon Hill Lodge will remain
  • Yongsan Base will be turned into a park
  • The U.S. Embassy plans to move down there
  • The celebrities who have bought the buildings may be biding their time, waiting for the park to be built
  • In the meantime, the area will decline