Cheongju has a shantytown that was formed after the Korean War as a refugee settlement. This shantytown is different from other shantytowns because it received attention six years ago for popular soap operas like ‘The King of Breadmaking, Kim Tak-gu’, ‘Glory Jane’ and the recently ended drama ‘Healer’. Since 2008, a public works art project has made it into a new place in the neighborhood of memories. It’s Suamgol.
  Suamgol is getting famous and many tourists visit there. In 2011, 57,096 people visited. In 2012, 54,337 people visited, and in 2013, there were 73,928 local tourists and 1,672 foreigner tourists. In addition, the price of land was 210,000 won in 2011, but now, it is 1,100,000 won per 1square meter. Suamgol is crowded with people on weekdays, in addition to weekends, and they help Suamgol’s economy.
  However, Suamgol transformed into a commercial place with cafes and modern commercial buildings, such as restaurants recklessly built, so Suamgol is increasingly losing its lovely form. Suamgol has changed into a commercial place, and it lost Suamgol’s worth.
  The influx of tourists grows, and residents are experiencing inconvenience. Suamgol is bright and loud at night as if it were day. This led to the sign in Suamgol, “Forbidden taking pictures after 8 p.m.” There is a mural filled with doodles of tourists and a lot of garbage thrown near the wall. Also, garbage bags had been ripped and remain around wall, and it looks like an incineration plant. To control tourists is too difficult, so they have parked in ‘no parking’ areas even though there are a lot of parking spaces.
  Suamgol is a living foundation for residents and not just an attractive travel destination for tourists. The rebirth of Suamgol has been helpful for the Suamgol economy, but it is significantly harmful to people’s lives. Suamgol is a neighborhood of memories that is still burning like briquettes from the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, it seems to need proper tourists’ manners and effort to preserve the original Suamgol.
 

By Kim Soo-min

sm36@cbnu.ac.kr