One of the many Korean flags seen along Nonhyeon Rd in Seocho-gu, Seoul.
This weekend, flags were placed along the trunk streets of Seoul in honor of the March, 1 1919 Korean Independence Movement and Park Geun-Hye’s Inauguration Ceremony. Taegukgi (태극기) is the name of the Korean flag.
The holiday commemorates the quintessential non-violent demonstration of Koreans against Japanese colonial rule via a Declaration of Independence. Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910-1945.
The recently re-designed $256 million Seoul City Hall opened on August 27,2012 after three years of construction. The winning team of designers, iArc Architects, were selected from a competition. There’s an interesting contrast between the colonial Japanese era building, built in 1926, and the newly constructed glass building.
Interesting fact: The expansion consists of 7,000 glass panes that were later found to break city codes written for energy efficiency.
I like the contrast, but there were local TV reports claiming that many people felt that the new design didn’t have the proper harmony with the area or the existing structure.