Where does a city really start and end? It’s almost impossible to know the boundaries in a modern city. But it was a different story in the ancient capital city of Hanyang during the Joseon era. The city was encircled by a fortress wall. Here’s cultural guide Kim Jong-ho to explain more about the fortress wall.

Upon founding Joseon, King Taejo first designated its capital and built Gyeongbok Palace. He also needed walls to protect the palace and that was the Seoul Fortress. But he didn’t just erect a wall. The fortress had four mountains around Gyeongbok Palace as its anchors. There was Mt. Nam in the south, Mt. Nak in the east, Mt. Inwang in the west, and Mt. Bugak in the north. A fortress should also have gates for people to enter, so the fortress had four grand gates. There were also four smaller gates in between the four big gates.

Built in 1396 or the fifth year of King Taejo’s reign, the 18.2-kilometer Seoul Fortress served as the boundary for the capital city. Today we’ll talk a walk along walls of the Seoul Fortress at Mt. Bugak and get a glimpse of the city’s 600-year history.

The starting point of the Mt. Bugak segment of the Seoul Fortress wall is the Malbawi resting place located over Waryong Park in Jongno District. But before visitors start their climb, cultural guide Park Mi-kyung tells us about a few precautions for the fortress wall trekkers.

The Mt. Bugak portion of the Seoul Fortress wall is located inside a military area. It’s a special place, so you need to have your IDs. A Korean citizen must have one of these three IDs - a resident registration card, a driver’s license, or a passport. For foreigners their passports or alien registration cards are accepted. Since this is a military zone, you are going to see a guard post or a military base near the path. This is a restricted area so photo-taking is strictly prohibited for security reasons. So please wait until we reach a rest area or an observatory to take pictures.

The Seoul Fortress wall in Mt. Bugak was designated a military protection area in 1968. On January 21st of that year a North Korean terrorist team launched a surprise attack at the South Korean presidential residence Cheong Wa Dae from Mt. Bugak. Since then the road leading to Mt. Bugak has been off limits to the public. But in 2007 the area was reopened to allow Koreans to take a walk along the fortress wall after nearly four decades. Here’s cultural guide Park Mi-kyung to tell us more about it.

The segments of the Seoul Fortress outside of Mt. Bugak have always been open to the public for unrestricted exploration. The walls included in the military zone around Mt. Bugak were opened in 2006 during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Ex-president Roh decided to open a one-kilometer route from Chotdaebawi, meaning “candlestick boulder,” to Sukjeong Gate. Then in the following year the three-kilometer trail between Sukjeong Gate and Changeui Gate was opened. Since the area has seen any civilian traffic for the past 40 years, its natural ecosystem has been perfectly preserved. The walls also stand pretty much intact, so you can see what the fortress actually looked like during the Joseon era.

Now that we’ve been properly informed, let’s start trekking through the trail.

The trail starts at the Malbawi rest area, which is located about 20 minutes’ walk away from the Waryong Park entrance. Just follow the signs pointing to the rest area and you’ll soon see a log cabin standing in the forest. That’s the Malbawi rest area.

You leave your ID at the rest area before embarking on the climb. A cultural guide accompanies visitors twice a day – at 10 in the morning and two in the afternoon. Guided tour is a great way to learn detailed history about the Mt. Bugak portion of the Seoul Fortress.

Starting at the Malbawi rest area, the walking course passes by Sukjeong Gate, Chotdaebawi, Gokjang, Cheongwundae, and Baeakmaru, Mt. Bugak’s peak, and then down to Changeui Gate. The whole course measures about 2.2 kilometers. Let’s head toward Sukjeong Gate first.

About 15 minutes later trekkers reach Sukjeong Gate, one of four grand gates of the Seoul Fortress. Tour guide Kim Jong-ho tells us more about the gate.

This is Sukjeong Gate, the northern gate of the Seoul Fortress. When Joseon era scholar Jeong Do-jeon built a structure, he built it based on five Confucian values – patience, justice, courtesy, wisdom, and trust. Sukjeong Gate incorporated the value of wisdom, which is pronounced “ji” in Korean. But as you can tell there is no letter “ji” in Sukjeong Gate. Well, Sukjeong Gate was originally named Sojimun or Soji Gate. So it had “ji” meaning wisdom in its original name. Let’s go up to see the upper part of the gate.

Visitors walk up the stairs to arrive at Sukjeong Gate. The autumn breeze is refreshing and a view of Seoul’s northern side from the wall is spectacular.

Look up to the roof of Sukjeong Gate and you’ll see a series of animal sculptures adorning the roof.

Do you see those stone animal sculptures? Those are the main characters from an old Chinese epic titled “Seoyugi or Journey to the West.” Standing in the front is Buddhist monk Samjang, followed by the monkey Sonogong, the pig Jeopalgye, and the goblin Saojeong. The stone sculptures supposedly ward off evil spirits or bad fortune. The practice of placing animal sculptures to protect a place was adopted from China. It’s undeniable that Korean architecture was greatly influenced by China. The sculptures are made in odd numbers like three, five, seven, or nine. The number of sculptures on the roof indicates the importance or the power of that structure.

An unusually large number of pine trees surround Sukjeong Gate. According to an old geomantic principle, too much negative energy enveloped Sukjeong, which was why access was prohibited to the area and pine trees were planted. Thanks to the special protective measure, the pine forest has been very well preserved.

About 15 minutes from Sukjeong Gate stands Chotdaebawi. The boulder signifies a very painful part of Korean history.

The boulder measures about 15 to 16 meters. Chotdaebawi supposedly stands on the straight line from Gyeongbok Palace. So the boulder was deemed spiritual, because it was thought to channel the spirit or the energy from the main royal palace. But during Japanese occupation the Japanese colonial government drove in a steel spike there to sever the flow of energy. The spike has been removed now, but a wooden peg still marks the spot.

Visitors can’t help but feel indignation as they see the vestige of disrespectful destruction of a historically important locale.

Next stop is Gokjang, which is a defense facility built to thwart enemies climbing the wall. A part of the fortress wall juts out to allow a wider view of the surrounding areas and an easier detection of enemy movements. But these days Gokjang offers a breathtaking view of Seoul.

The scenery is sure magnificent, but taking photos is strictly prohibited in the Mt. Bugak portion of the Seoul Fortress wall except for at designated areas. Visitors are disappointed to leave Gokjang without a single picture to capture the view. About 20 minutes from Gokjang stands Cheongwundae. Culture guide Kim Jong-ho takes walkers out of the fortress.

Now we’re outside the fortress. You can see better what the fortress looks like from outside the wall. The fortress wasn’t built sturdily in the beginning. The Seoul Fortress was built five years after Gyeongbok Palace was finished in 1392. At the time Mt. Bugak was a stone mountain. There were so many stones that builders used the stones in the mountain to build the fortress. The stones used initially were shaped round or irregular, so the construction was rather loose like the part you see on the right side. That part was built in the early years of King Taejo’s reign. A major expansion took place during the fourth year of King Sejong’s reign, but that part can’t be seen from where we stand. There was another reconstruction during King Sukjong’s reign, which is preserved to today. The Sukjong-era construction is what we see today as Seoul Fortress. This part is the most well-preserved part of Seoul Fortress.

The shapes of stone vary by when that part was built. Some of the stones are round and irregular, and some are neat and square. You can tell which era the wall was built by looking at the stones. But a closer look reveals there are writings on the stones.

Can you see the names engraved on the stones? Those are called gakja각자, which were etched to tell who was responsible for building that part of the fortress. This one says General Oh Jae-min and that one says Supervisor Lee Dong-wan. The stones with the word “pyeonsu” indicate that those were engraved with the names of the technicians or craftsmen. So when a problem occurs with the structure, they would know who should be held accountable for that problem.

Cheongwundae marks the halfway point of Seoul Fortress. A short break is given to catch one’s breath and take in the view of Gyeongbok Palace below. Then it’s off to the summit of Mt. Bugak. On our way to the top we encounter another sad reminder of a tragic incident. It’s none other than the site of January 21 terrorist attack in 1968. An old pine tree is riddled with bullet holes to show how terrible the attack had been.

There used to be 15 bullets stuck in the tree. But now the bullet holes are painted over with only markings to show where the holes had been. The tree was quite damaged from the gunfire. But this is not the only tree shot. There are many more trees around here with bullet holes. This pine tree was singled out to symbolize the tragedy.

The wounds the pine tree suffered tell how frightening and fierce the assault must have been. Leaving the damaged tree behind, visitors walk for another 20 minutes along a steeper incline. Now they finally reach the 342-meter peak of Mt. Bugak.

You are standing on top of Mt. Bugak. The sign says Mt. Baegak, because this mountain was originally called Baegak. The letter “ak” is given only to tall mountains, like Mt. Seorak or Mt. Chiak, but it was used in Mt. Baeak, a mountain only 342 meters high, because it’s the mountain nearest to Gyeongbok Palace. This was a very important mountain, so it deserved the letter “ak” in its name.

The last stop in the Mt. Bugak course of Seoul Fortress is Changeui Gate, a small gate between the main gates in the south and the north. These days it’s better known as Jahamun or Jaha Gate, meaning the “violet fog.” This is the only gate among Seoul’s nine gates that remain open 24 hours to offer respite to those who trekked along the fortress walls. So how was today’s trip around the old Seoul Fortress?

- It was nice, because I could relive the history of Seoul. Also the views were great. Walking along the fortress was really meaningful for me.
- It was harder than I thought, but I’m proud that there is a historical site like this in Seoul. I think it’s going to be a great tourist attraction like the Great Walls of China.
- I’m proud of this fortress in Seoul, because it is very traditional and pretty. I’m going to recommend this as a must-see tourist attraction.