Seoul’s first subway line opened in 1974

People wave at a train as the first Seoul subway line was opened on Aug. 15, 1974. / Korea Times file

By Andrei Lankov

In 1970, Chang Kwan-man, the first Korean deputy prime minister and Korea’s economic czar, was talking to President Park about the current economic situation. He chose to use this opportunity to voice his opinion on an important subject: “Mr. President, if we build a subway in Seoul, the country will be ruined.”

Such a warning was understandable. The Seoul population by 1970 had reached the impressive level of 5.4 million people, so the need for a subway was real. Nonetheless, the country still remained a very poor place, where annual GDP per capita was merely $300, so a subway in its capital city did look like a white elephant. So, Chang Kwan-man had good reason to believe that such an undertaking would inflict serious damage on the still fragile economy.

There were other opinions as well ― predictably, in Seoul City Hall. The most enthusiastic supporter of the subway project was Kim Hyon-ok, a hyper-active and charismatic Seoul mayor. He was not known as “bulldozer” for nothing; his short tenure (1966-1970) was the time of a demolition/construction frenzy, which led to a dramatic transformation of the city and essentially created the Seoul we know nowadays (this hyper-activity also drove the city budget into a huge deficit).

When Kim was appointed mayor, one of his first pledges was to put an end to mounting traffic problems. Back in 1970 the city had merely 60,442 registered motor vehicles ― a tiny fraction of the present-day 2.8 million. Nonetheless, Seoul’s narrow streets and badly organized and often led to traffic jams.

For decades, the tram (streetcar) service remained the backbone of the city’s public transportation. By the mid-1960s, though, it had been overtaken by buses as the major means of transportation, but still played a major role in long-distance commuting. However, the slow and unwieldy streetcars ran on rails that were laid in the central part of the streets, so every time a streetcar arrived at a designated stop, all traffic was halted for few minutes (embarking and disembarking passengers had to cross the street to the rails). This contributed much to the general confusion. Of course, there were ways to re-arrange the tram service, but Kim decided to get rid of the old anachronistic trams and replace them with a subway.

The first part of the job was easy: in 1968 the Seoul tram service, in work since 1899, ceased its operations. The second part was more difficult; subways are efficient but also very expensive, and the city of Seoul could not build one without government support. However, in April 1970 Kim had to resign from his position, so it was left to his successor, Yang Taek-sik to fight for the necessary funds. In May 1970 Yang Taek-sik made an official proposal about subway construction, incurring much displeasure from economic managers.

President Park was at loss; the need for a subway was clear, but the determined opposition of the vice-prime minister made him think twice. If one believes Professor Song Chong-mok, a former city official and the greatest authority on Seoul’s modern history, the issue was solved after the interference of Lee Hoo-rak, then Korean ambassador to Japan, soon to be appointed the head of the Korean CIA. According to Professor Song, Lee was persuaded to support the project by his wife who was an old school friend of the mayor’s spouse (another example of invisible “ajumma power” in Korean politics).

Lee also might have played a role in the financial agreement with Japan, which finally made the entire project possible. To a large extent, the Seoul subway was financed by Japanese loans. In those days Tokyo hoped to improve its image in Asia through generous aid programs, and Seoul became a logical destination for a large amount of this money. The arrival of the Japanese funds also helped to mobilize local credit.

The Japanese also provided technology and expertise, since Seoul was the fourth Asian city to acquire a subway network (the first two being Tokyo and Osaka, and the third was Seoul’s arch-rival Pyongyang).

So, the construction work commenced on April 12, with President Park and his wife as well as Yang, the Seoul Mayor, attending the ceremony. The President paid great attention to the project and was often seen at construction sites (a picture taken at an underground chamber, shows him, characteristically motionless, listening to Yang who used energetic gestures to explain something).

The first subway line, 9.54 km long, began at the Seoul railway station. The line, now marked by a dark blue color, crossed the city downtown area, to terminate at Cheongnyangni, another important railway station. Interestingly enough, it roughly coincided with the first tram line which in 1899 began the history of Seoul’s public transportation.

The first line was connected to the local train network, and this was the reason why the trains there go on the left track. Another, less obvious peculiarity, is the use of the mixed DC/AC power supply. While underground, the train use 1,500V DC power, but when it surfaces, it switches to 25,000V AC, the standard of Korean Railways taken from Japan. Incidentally, the need to have a short powerless insertion for such a switch is the reason why lights in a train on the 1st line briefly go off every time it is about to enter an underground tunnel or emerge from it.

The line was built using an “open cut” method. Instead of digging a tunnel, the builders dug a broad trench and then constructed the would-be tunnel inside. This approach allowed the saving of money, even though it led to major traffic congestion when the line was built.

The 1st line was opened on the Aug.15, 1974. As was the case when the work commenced, President Park was expected to attend the ceremony. He did not show up as a hit man (probably send by Pyongyang) tried to kill him. The President survived, but his wife was mortally wounded. Many people took this as a bad omen, but it was not the case; the subway network grew faster than the city itself.

In 1975, the plans for a 2nd line were confirmed. Initially, it was planned that this would cover a relatively short stretch between Yongpo and Wangsimni, but at the very last moment the Seoul mayor revised the plan. He took a pencil and drew a huge circle which went around the entire city. So, it took some 20 minutes to decide where the second (circular) line would go. This line became fully operational in 1984. Its length is 48.8 km (or 60.2km with two radial extensions), so it is often claimed to be the world’s longest subway circular line.

Nowadays, the Seoul subway (now run by two independent operators), has nine lines and 293 stations, with the total length of its lines reaching 317 km. The subway is integrated with the local train system, so one can go as far as the city of Cheonan (some 100 km south of downtown Seoul) without leaving the subway network. As of 2008, the subway handled 35% of the entire passenger traffic in the Korean capital (the share of buses was 28%).

Speaking subjectively, Seoul subway is one of the fastest and safest rapid transit systems of the world. The austere interior of the early lines has been replaced by the much more elaborate architectural designs of later stations. Contrary to the fears of Kim Hak-ryol, it did not ruin the country.

Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. He can be reached at anlankov@yahoo.com.

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