by Frances Cha
In the 1970s into the 1980s, there used to be a saying about Namsan, the 262-meter mountain in central Seoul now known for its scenic date spots and “love locks.”
In those days of heightened paranoia about activist shenanigans and North Korean espionage, “going to Namsan” was a euphemism for being dragged into the Korean CIA headquarters for questioning. Rumors abounded that the interrogation led to torture, and possibly death.
Even after its most notorious years, the building continued to be an office building for the KCIA, now called the National Intelligence Service, and was bought by the Seoul government in 1995 as part of a campaign aimed at “reverting Namsan back to its original state.”
The ₩7 billion (US$6,323,114) conversion from what was arguably the country’s most feared building into the friendly budget accommodations that it is today was the result of a civil campaign to give Namsan an image makeover.
“In 2004, citizen groups asked the Seoul government to turn the former KCIA building, which was being used as a Seoul government office building, into a more accessible facility befitting its location in the middle of the Namsan Park,” says Kwon Ko-eun of the Seoul government’s children and youth division.
read more