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...
The Metasequoia is also called the dawn redwood in English. This tree is special because people once knew it only from fossils. For a long time, scientists thought it was extinct. But in the 1940s, living Metasequoia trees were found in China. This discovery surprised everyone. The tree earned the name “living fossil.”
Its scientific name is Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Only one living species exists in the Metasequoia group today. It is a conifer but different from most pine trees. It is a deciduous conifer. Its leaves look like needles, but they fall off in winter. The leaves are bright green in spring and summer. They turn brown or reddish-brown in autumn before they drop. The tree looks very different in each season.
Metasequoia grows tall quickly. It likes sunny places with moist but well-drained soil. Young trees can grow 30 to 80 cm per year, sometimes up to 1 meter in very good conditions. Because it grows fast and becomes large, it absorbs a lot of carbon dioxide — some reports say 5 to 10 times more than pine trees, though this depends on age, size, and environment.
In Chinese characters, it is called 水杉 (suishān), meaning “water cedar” or a cedar-like tree that grows well near water. It prefers wet soil but needs good drainage. It likes water but does not want to stand in it like a fish.
The Birth of a Beautiful Tree-Lined Road
One of the best places to see Metasequoia in Korea is the Damyang Metasequoia Road in Damyang-eup, Damyang-gun, Jeollanam-do. Tall trees (10–20 m high) stand on both sides of the road. They form a long green tunnel about 8.5 km long. It feels like a natural corridor or a green cathedral.
The road started in 1972 as part of a national roadside tree project. The government planted 3–4 year old Metasequoia saplings along National Road 24. At first, they were small trees for shade and better scenery. Over decades, they grew tall and strong. The ordinary road became a famous beautiful green tunnel. It was not planned as a tourist spot, but time and growth made it one of Korea’s most beautiful tree-lined roads.