You may notice quite a few homeless people around Seoul Station. A lot of visitors ask me, “Why are there so many homeless people here?” One of the biggest reasons goes back to 1997, during the Asian Financial Crisis. In Korea, we usually call it the IMF Crisis . A lot of companies went bankrupt, unemployment rose very quickly, and many people suddenly lost their jobs and income. Some people eventually lost their homes as well. And many of them came to Seoul Station . Why here? Because this was one of the main places to find day labor and temporary jobs , and it was also the main railway station if they wanted to go back to their hometowns. But some had no money left and nowhere else to go, so they stayed around the station. That is one reason Seoul Station became one of the main gathering places for homeless people after the 1997 crisis. Then another thing happened. Once many homeless people were here, churches, charities, NGOs, and the government started providing help here. Th...
Let me tell you where the phrase “Heungcheong Mangcheong” (흥청망청) comes from. This expression was born during the reign of Yeonsan-gun , the 10th king of the Joseon Dynasty, who ruled from 1494 to 1506 . He was one of the most famous tyrants in Korean history. Yeonsan-gun loved pleasure more than politics. He often held huge parties at places like Gyeonghoeru Pavilion in Gyeongbokgung Palace. For these parties, he brought in over 1,000 entertainers , especially a group of women known as “Heungcheong” . They were singers, dancers, and performers whose only job was to entertain the king. He spent a crazy amount of money on these events—food, music, wine, clothes, decorations. There were more than 80 kinds of royal dishes on the table, including rare meats and exotic foods. These feasts sometimes went on for days . Now, here’s the important part: The name “Heungcheong” (흥청) comes from the entertainers he invited. The word “Mangcheong” (망청) was added later to rhyme with it, and i...