Haebangchon & Sinheung Market

Character

In November 2016, all 44 property owners in Sinheung Market signed the same bargain: Seoul would fund repairs, and they would hold rents for at least six years. The deal tried to revive a long-declining market without pricing out the tenants expected to revive it

Two years later, *The Korea Times* found 77-year-old Park Il-song outside a grocery store first opened by a relative in the early 1950s. He remembered flour mills, oil pressers and side-dish shops disappearing as owners aged. Empty units then made room for a different generation: leather craftsman Park Ki-dong, jewelry designer Kim Sae-rom and cafe owner Jang Kyung-hoon were among the younger tenants profiled in the market

That handover is more useful than the usual “old Seoul meets new Seoul” label. Sinheung Market survived because aging ownership, low rents, public money and incoming tenants briefly found a workable arrangement

The experience

Sinheung Market is small enough that the building itself does not consume a visit. Its value comes from the mix: older food and daily-goods businesses sit beside cafes, bars, workshops and restaurants under the renovated arcade

The surrounding streets do more of the historical work. Haebangchon climbs sharply toward Namsan, and the low-rise buildings still contain traces of the neighborhood’s manufacturing years. Knitwear was once produced in rooms and workshops scattered through the slope rather than inside one industrial complex

The market renovation changed practical conditions without erasing the old footprint. Seoul replaced deteriorated roofing, improved roads, drainage, fire protection, toilets and other basic infrastructure while keeping the small-shop structure intact

Food and nightlife now make Haebangchon visible to a much wider audience, but the district still reads differently from a purpose-built entertainment street. Homes, old workshops, foreign-run businesses and the market remain mixed together on the same steep blocks

History

Haebangchon grew after liberation in 1945 as refugees from northern Korea and other migrants occupied difficult hillside land below Namsan. A 2023 *Korea Times* history of the neighborhood notes that arrivals accelerated after North Korea’s 1946 land reform as well as during the later Korean War. The name literally means “Liberation Village”

The neighborhood’s economy developed around cheap labor and proximity to central Seoul. Residents produced supplies for the nearby U.S. military presence, knitted sweaters for Namdaemun and Myeongdong and made jeans for Itaewon. At its 1970s–80s height, Haebangchon held roughly 200 knitwear manufacturers and a population reported at about 30,000

Sinheung Market opened in 1969 and grew with that manufacturing economy. *The Korea Times* reported that women leaving knitwear factories would buy groceries there after work. When local garment production contracted in the 1980s and later faced cheaper overseas competition, the market lost the workforce and household traffic that had sustained it

Seoul selected Haebangchon for urban regeneration in 2015. The rent agreement between the city and all 44 market property owners followed in 2016, tying physical renovation to tenant protection for six years. It did not solve the larger pressure of gentrification, but it made that pressure part of the project rather than an afterthought

Before you go

Sinheung Market works as the middle of the neighborhood rather than its only destination. The streets below it show the commercial spillover from Itaewon and Noksapyeong; the lanes above retain more of the steep residential and workshop fabric that gave Haebangchon its original form