Yongdusan Park & Busan Tower

Character

A fire on 10 December 1954 destroyed the refugee settlement that had spread across Yongdusan during the Korean War and left much of the hill bare. The park was replanted afterward, and Busan Tower opened on the summit in 1973

Before the war, the summit had served a very different role. During Japanese colonial rule, a park and Shinto shrine were developed on the hill, and official ceremonies were held there. The shrine disappeared after liberation. Displaced residents and Korean War refugees later built dense makeshift housing on the slopes until the 1954 fire destroyed more than a thousand shacks and displaced thousands of people

After the fire, the city replanted the hill and reorganized it as parkland. The park was briefly renamed after President Syngman Rhee, later returned to the Yongdusan name, and accumulated new civic monuments. Busan Tower arrived in 1973. Its observation deck rises 120 metres, and the crown was modeled on the canopy of Dabotap at Bulguksa

The experience

The park is compact compared with the dense streets below. Escalators from the Gwangbok-ro side remove much of the climb, and the tower, Citizens’ Bell, flower clock and monuments are close enough to cover in a short circuit around the summit

At street level, Nampo and Gwangbok feel dense and close; from the observatory, the geography opens up. Busan Port, Yeongdo, Busanhangdaegyo Bridge and Yeongdodaegyo Bridge fall into one wide view, with Marine City visible in clear weather. The tower is most useful for understanding how the old downtown sits around the harbor

The summit is still worth visiting without a tower ticket. The Citizens’ Bell, Yi Sun-sin statue and other memorial structures show how the park was recast as a civic space after the fire, while the open areas give free views over parts of the surrounding downtown

History

After Busan opened to foreign trade in the late nineteenth century, the area around Yongdusan became part of the Japanese settlement. A modern park and shrine were developed on the hill in 1915–1916, and the summit became an official ceremonial space during the colonial period. The shrine was removed after liberation

During and after the Korean War, refugees built densely across the hill. The fire of 10 December 1954 destroyed 1,093 shacks and left about 8,000 people displaced. The damaged hill was then replanted and reorganized as parkland. In the mid-1950s it was renamed Unam Park after Syngman Rhee; the Yongdusan name returned in the 1960s

Busan Tower and the flower clock were installed in 1973, giving the summit much of its present appearance. The Citizens’ Bell followed in 1996 and became a site for major civic bell-ringing ceremonies, including New Year observances

Before you go

The park is free; Busan Tower is a separate paid attraction with its own operating hours. If the goal is a quick old-downtown viewpoint and a walk around the civic monuments, the summit can be visited without entering the tower

For the easiest approach, use the escalator connection from the Gwangbok-ro side. Jungang and Nampo stations are both useful rail anchors, so choose the one that fits the rest of a walk through Gwangbok, Nampo or the port area