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'Cheonggye Stream', also known as 'Cheong Gye Cheon', also spelled in one word ''Cheonggyecheon'', is a 5.8km creek flowing through downtown Seoul, Korea and then meeting the Jungrancheon, which in turn empties into the Han River.

Contents

Restoration

Photos

See also

References

External links

Official pages

Other pages

Restoration

During the presidency of Syngman Rhee, Cheonggyecheon was covered over with concrete for roads and, in 1968, an elevated highway was built over it. In July 2003, Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak initiated a project to uncover and restore the stream. It was a major undertaking as not only did the highway have to be removed, but years of neglect and development had left the stream nearly totally dry and 120,000 tons of water had to be pumped in daily. The stream was opened to the public in September of 2005 and lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification. However, there was considerable opposition from the previous mayoral administration of Goh Kun, which feared gentrification of the adjacent areas that housed many shops and small businesses in the machine trades.
The restoration helped Lee become a nationally renowned figure, making him a serious contender for the presidency, but did not come without controversy. In May 2005, just a few months before the project was to finish, Seoul vice-mayor Yang Yun-jae and local politician Kim Il-ju were arrested on bribery charges related to the project.
The project is estimated to have cost over 900 billion won (approximately US$ 900 million). In addition, about 12 trillion won (US$12 billion) is expected to be invested to re-develop the 792,000 square meter region near the stream into a major commercial and residential area over the next five years. Some Korean environmental organizations have criticized the project for its high costs, calling it purely symbolic and not really beneficial to the city's eco-environment.

Photos

See also

Rivers of Korea

References

J. H. Shin, "Dream and Hope of Korea, Cheonggyecheon Restoration," Magazine of Korean Water Resources Association, Vol. 37, No.1, 2004.

External links

Official pages

★ Official website of Cheonggyecheon

★ Seoul government homepage for the Cheonggyecheon restoration

★ Mayor Lee Myung-bak's speech marking the start of the restoration project

Other pages

★ Today's Cheonggyecheon from visitseoul.net

★ Chonggyechon: New Stream of Seoul, special report of The Korea Times, September 29, 2005.

★ "Investigate Everything About Cheonggyecheon", The Hankyoreh, May 11, 2005.

★ "Restoring Cheonggyecheon Stream in the Downtown Seoul", Hwang Kee-yeon, Seoul Development Institute, 2004.

★ Galbijim wiki page on Cheonggyecheon