SOUTH KOREA: Transit Weblinks
The Republic of Korea (“South Korea”) had no subways until 1974, when Seoul opened its first line. Seoul opened an amazing 100 miles of new subway lines during the 1990s, and now has a network of about 175 miles, including Korean National Railroad lines used for through running. Other systems have been opened in Busan (1985), Daegu (1997), Incheon (1999), Gwangju (opened April 28, 2004) and Daejeon (planned for 2006).
A note about transcription of Korean place names into the Latin alphabet: there are several systems and Koreans themselves do not agree which is best. Part of the problem is that the language has many phonetic shifts (e.g. “k” to “g”) - and much disagreement on how (and whether) these should be represented in “romanized” form. We have followed the lead of the excellent UrbanRail.Net (formerly metroPlanet) website in deciding how to spell Korean city names; these are based on the “official” spellings adopted by the South Korean government in 2000. We have also included city names in Hangul (Korea’s native phonetic alphabet) and Chinese characters, which Koreans refer to as Hanja .
부산 (釜山) Busan (4 million)
Busan Urban Transit Authority official website, in English:
http://www.subway.busan.kr/english/index.html
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/busa/busan.htm
Osamu Abe map: http://osamuabe.infoseek.livedoor.com/subway/mappage/pusan.gif
대구 (大邱) Daegu (2.5 million)
Daegu Metropolitan Subway official website, in English:
http://www.daegusubway.co.kr/english/index.html
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/daeg/daegu.htm
Osamu Abe map: http://osamuabe.infoseek.livedoor.com/subway/mappage/taegu.gif
(Progress in Daegu has been marred by construction accidents that killed a total of 124 people, and an arson attack on February 18, 2003, that killed 198 people. Service was suspended for a time after the tragedy. The convicted arsonist, who had a history of mental problems, received a life sentence in August 2003).
대전 (大田) Daejeon (1.4 million)
Daejon Subway Construction Company Association official website
http://www.djsubway.com (Korean only)
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/daej/daejeon.htm
광주 (光州) Gwangju (1.4 million)
Gwangju Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation official website:
http://www.subway.gwangju.kr (Korean only)
Gwangju Metropolitan Subway Construction Headquarters official website: http://subway.gjcity.net (Korean only).
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/gwan/gwangju.htm
인천 (仁川) Incheon (2.5 million)
Incheon Rapid Transit Corporation official website, in English:
http://www.irtc.co.kr/english/index.asp
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/inch/incheon.htm
Osamu Abe map: http://osamuabe.infoseek.livedoor.com/subway/mappage/inchon.gif
서울 Seoul (9.6 million)
Seoul Metropolitan Subway Company (lines 1-4) official website, in English:
http://www.seoulsubway.co.kr/english_subway/e-intro.jsp
Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation (lines 5-8) official website, in English:
http://www.smrt.co.kr/english/index.jsp
Korean National Railroad (“KoRail”) official website, in English (trains use Seoul subway Line 1): http://www.korail.go.kr/ROOT/main-top.top?lang=eng
UrbanRail.Net page: http://www.urbanrail.net/as/seou/seoul.htm
Osamu Abe map: http://osamuabe.infoseek.livedoor.com/subway/mappage/seoule.gif
The “Life in Korea” website has an interesting “Subway Information Page”
http://www.lifeinkorea.com/information/trans/subways.cfm
The excellent “Future Railway Database” [ 미래철도 DB , Miryae Childo DB] by Han Woo-jin [ 한우진 ] covers various planned subway and railway projects, but only in Korean.
South Korea has developed an Automated Guideway Transit (AGT) system patterned after the Mucha Line in Taipei, the Bukit Pajan "LRT" system in Singapore, and new AGT lines planned in Hong Kong. This is a rubber-tired system very similar to the standardized Japanese design.
The name of the system, in Korean, is “kwaecheon-ch'eol,” literally “electric light railway.”
Interest in AGT was stimulated by the rising cost of full-scale subway construction. Another issue: Within Seoul proper, subways carry 33.8 percent of traffic, buses carry 28.8 percent, taxis 9.2 percent and autos 19.6 percent. But, in newly-developed suburbs, autos carry 50-80 percent of all traffic.
And, while on the subject of Korea . . .
평양 (平壤) Pyongyang (1.7 million)
UrbanRail.Net page on the subway in Pyongyang, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“North Korea”)
http://www.urbanrail.net/as/pyon/pyongyang.htm
Simon Bone’s very detailed - and very unofficial - Pyongyang metro page
http://www.pyongyang-metro.com /
Osamu Abe’s Pyongyang map
http://osamuabe.infoseek.livedoor.com/subway/mappage/pyonmap.gif
Rob Dickinson’s “Pyongyang's Transport of Delight” page, including photos of surface (and river) transport
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/steam/trains/nkorea05.htm
Pyongyang metro system page (English and Chinese) by “Albert”
http://hk.geocities.com/hkgalbert/pyongyang_metro.htm
(“Albert” also has a page with links to scanned street maps, most of them apparently published in China, of North Korean cities.)
