Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market is in Jongno-gu, Seoul, within walking distance of Jongno 5(o)-ga Station on Subway Line 1 and Euljiro 4(sa)-ga Station on Lines 2 and 5. This guide draws on the 'Gwangjang Company' entry in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Academy of Korean Studies), the market's official website (history, directions, opening hours and a post on its food), and the Korea Tourism Organization's VISITKOREA in English and its Korean-language travel site. Most posts on the official website date from 2017, so details that can change, such as opening hours, are shown side by side with VISITKOREA's current listing.

How the market began

According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, late-Joseon Seoul had three great markets — Chilpae outside Namdaemun Gate, Ihyeon (Baeogae) inside Dongdaemun Gate, and Jongno — but the Chilpae and Ihyeon markets only opened briefly at dawn and had no clear boundaries. The first permanent city market was the Seonhyecheong Changnaejang near Namdaemun, opened in 1897: today's Namdaemun Market.

After the Russo-Japanese War, rumors spread that Changnaejang would be moved. High officials such as Kim Jong-han and merchants such as Park Seung-jik then set up a company to build a new market. The first plan was to cover the stream between two bridges, Gwanggyo and Janggyo, and the company was named Gwangjang Company (廣長會社); the Korea Tourism Organization's Korean page traces the name to Gwanggyo ('wide bridge') and Janggyo ('long bridge'). It applied for approval around 10 July 1905 and began work soon after, but when heavy rain washed away the building materials, the covering plan was dropped and the site moved near the Baeogae market. The company changed its name to Gwangjang Company written 廣藏會社 — the same sound, different characters — and called its new permanent market Gwangjang Market (廣藏市場). VISITKOREA explains the new name as meaning 'to gather from afar and keep altogether'.

When it opened, the market had 50 tile-roofed storehouses and a number of tin-roofed stalls, with about 200 merchants. It was ringed by an earthen wall with four gates — south, north, east and west — that were shut at sunset. The market moved to its present site in early March 1909, and in 1911 the company was approved as Gwangjang Corporation. The encyclopedia describes it as the oldest Korean company still operating under the name it took in 1905.

The official website's account of the name and the founding differs a little from the encyclopedia's above. It says Korean merchants founded Gwangjang Corporation in July 1905 after Japan's currency consolidation program shook their footing, that the market was called 'Dongdaemun Market' when it received its opening permit from the Hanseong city authorities, and that it became known as 'Gwangjang Market' from the 1960s on.

What the market sells

According to the Korea Tourism Organization, the market's early trade was mostly farm and fishery produce, firewood and charcoal brought in by ox and horse carts from places such as Gapyeong, Ttukseom, Icheon and Cheorwon. Today it is a general market dealing in silk, hanbok fabric, suit and dress fabric, women's clothing, curtain fabric, bedding, embroidery, mother-of-pearl lacquerware, kitchenware, imported goods, fruit, dried fish, goods for ancestral rites, fish, meat and vegetables.

The official website describes the market as lined with shops selling what coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, funerals and ancestral rites call for: hanbok, pyebaek (traditional wedding food offerings) and burial shrouds. For hanbok alone you can find children's hanbok for first-birthday parties, modernized hanbok, and accessories worn with hanbok such as norigae pendants and rubber shoes.

The market also has a vintage arcade. According to the official website, part of the market was destroyed in the Korean War and came back to life when refugees traded daily necessities and military supplies there; that trade was the beginning of Korea's imported vintage market.

The food alley

The Korea Tourism Organization's Korean page names the food alley where the East Gate, North Gate 2 and South Gate 1 meet as the busiest part of the market. Writing about the market's food, the official website describes alleys full of market staples such as jeon (pan-fried dishes), jokbal (pig's trotters) and sundae (Korean blood sausage), where the bindaetteok (mung bean pancake) shops fill up in the evening and stay lively until late.

The same website also introduces 'Mayak Gimbap' ('drug gimbap') as the market's signature dish: rice, seaweed, pickled radish and carrot with a secret sauce. It adds that the line sometimes gets so long that you have to wait a good while.

Opening hours differ by section

Gwangjang Market does not run on a single timetable. The main market, the vintage arcade and the food alley each open and close at different times.

VISITKOREA in English gives 'Sundays (Food Street open all year round)' as its closing day, while the Korean-language VISITKOREA page lists hours and closing days as varying by shop. If you are going for fabric or hanbok, avoid Sundays.

Getting there

The address is 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

The accessibility information on the Korea Tourism Organization's Korean page says the market has an accessible restroom and accessible parking spaces, and that its main entrance has no step.

Paying and asking for help

VISITKOREA's basic information says cards are accepted. The market's phone number on its official website is +82-2-2267-0291. VISITKOREA also lists the 1330 Travel Hotline (+82-2-1330), which answers in Korean, English, Japanese and Chinese.