Last year, in a school class, I analyzed the data of the regions visited by foreign tourists in Korea, and I was curious because Songdo, Incheon, ranked first... I was really curious about what was there... So I looked it up on the internet and went to Songdo, Incheon haha. Let's learn about Incheon Songdo first!

History of Songdo, Incheon

Let's start with the history of Incheon Metropolitan City! On September 8, 1945, after World War II ended, American troops landed in Incheon. The Incheon Landing Operation on September 15, 1950 greatly changed the phase of the Korean War. The Republic of Korea, which had been on the defensive, was able to turn to the offensive and occupy the north with this operation as an opportunity. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Incheon became one of the major imports and exports in the metropolitan area!. As the industrial meeting progressed, Incheon Port continued to expand, and the role of the Incheon Inner Port was dispersed and transferred to the North Port, Coastal Pier, and South Port!. Due to this, the Chinese in Chinatown in Incheon, which was formed in front of the inner port, faced an economic downturn. Originally, Incheon was the southern part of present-day Incheon Metropolitan City and the northern part of Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do. It's done.

「Source: Wikipedia」

Songdo International City

Songdo had no land in the past, and it is a new city built by reclaiming tidal flats! In 1986, Incheon Directly Controlled City first conceived of developing a new city as a hinterland of Incheon International Airport, and there is a record that it reported the plan to President Roh Tae-woo, who visited Incheon in 1988. In 1991, the final plan was finalized. Looking at the old days of Songdo, which had just been developed, it is a city that has developed at a tremendous speed!

The International Business District (IBD) in Zones 1 and 3, centered on the tallest building in Korea, POSCO Tower-Songdo (305m, 68 floors above ground) and Songdo Convensia, a convention facility, was a consortium between POSCO E&C of Korea and Gale International of the United States. Developed by NSIC, a corporation, and with Samsung Biologics and global campuses such as Yonsei University and New York State University, the Smart Valley in Zones 5 and 7 is located in the Gachon Gil Foundation, IBM of the United States, and Incheon Urban Development. It was developed by BRC Co., Ltd., a consortium corporation jointly established by the corporation.「Source: Wikipedia」

Songdo is a smart city!

Another name for Incheon Free Economic Zone, the first free economic zone in Korea, is 'Smart City'. Various new technologies such as 5G, big data, and AI are being introduced. Intelligent CCTV equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) is located in the 'Smart City Integrated Operation Center' in Songdo G Tower. Fire monitoring artificial intelligence cameras are installed in many places, and road safety and convenient city through traffic accident and risk monitoring cameras. And this is also a city with many startups...

It's a very interesting area historically, developmentally and technologically, right? If you haven't been to Songdo, Incheon yet, go see it. I'll introduce you to where to go in Songdo in the next episode! >.<