Uncovering stories of Cheonggye Stream’s restoration

People explore the buried Cheonggye Stream, published in the Hankook Ilbo July 16, 2002. Korea Times file

By Matt VanVolkenburg

• Published Jun 27, 2026 6:40 AM KST

At his final lecture for Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea on Dec. 10, 2003, Horace Grant Underwood II shared stories of the past while discussing late Joseon-era and colonial-era photos. At one point, he came to a photo of Cheonggye Stream in the early 20th century and commented on the still-unrealized plan to uncover the waterway: “They say they want to return it to being a clean stream. It was never a clean stream!”

Indeed, within a few decades of establishing Seoul as the capital in 1394, the newly founded Joseon government had come to rely on Cheonggye Stream as the city's principal conduit to flush waste out of the city. Attempts to cover the stream began during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule, but really took off in the late 1950s, when, over a period of two decades, the stream was covered in stages for a distance of 6 kilometers. Atop this was built an elevated expressway, the first section of which opened in 1969, seven years before it was completed.

A well-known section of the covered stream was Hwanghak-dong Flea Market, which had grown to hundreds of stalls, many of which stood in the shadow of the expressway. On Nov. 30, days before Underwood spoke in December 2003, the final 250 merchants of the flea market who had refused to leave their stalls were surrounded by 4,500 riot police while 3,500 “roustabouts” hired by the city forced them out after a violent showdown. With that, a final obstacle to uncovering the stream had been removed.

Hundreds of other merchants who had cooperated with the city were allowed to set up stalls inside the disused Dongdaemun Stadium nearby, but within months, plans were announced to demolish the stadium and build a park, which ultimately became Dongdaemun Design Plaza.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, construction proceeded as the expressway and the street above the stream were removed, except in sections where streets running north-south intersected, which resulted in them becoming bridges.

On Oct. 2, 2005, after less than two years of construction, the newly daylighted Cheonggye Stream was opened to much fanfare, complete with a concert by the Yoon Do-hyun Band in front of City Hall. As this author tried to walk in front of City Hall that evening, pedestrian traffic suddenly came to a halt. After a moment, the reason became clear: A few meters ahead, then Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak, under whose leadership the project had unfolded, was standing and shaking the hands of passersby with a grin stretching ear to ear. The success of the project was widely seen as one reason he won the presidency two years later.

For all the talk of environmental benefit and city branding that accompanied the project, the fate of the man who first suggested uncovering the stream, Yang Yoon-jae, then a professor of environmental studies at Seoul National University, suggested other benefits. In May 2005, after becoming vice mayor and heading the reconstruction project, he was sentenced to prison for taking 100 million won from a construction contractor to relax height restrictions in the stream's vicinity (not to fear, though — he received a pardon from Lee after the latter became president).

When it was first completed, there was little nature to be found, with the area near its upper reaches in particular seeming encased entirely in concrete. A year after its opening, the sculpture “Spring,” designed by pop artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Brugge, was installed at its source, prompting complaints from some who seemed not to appreciate the appropriateness of a giant purple aluminum sculpture in the shape of a marsh snail being placed above an artificial stream that needed water to be constantly pumped from the Han River to flow.

Within a year or two, however, marsh grass was flourishing, fish were swimming upstream and ducks, egrets and herons regularly visited the stream. Twenty years on, shrubs planted during construction are now trees, and the lower reaches of the stream look wilder than might have been expected during construction.

Today, citizens and tourists alike visit and cool off by the water and go for walks or jog at night, with little left to remind of the battles — both verbal and physical — that took place before the developmental-era infrastructure was torn away to make way for the seemingly placid burbling waters of today.

A section of the stream and the Cheonggyecheon Museum, along with several other local museums, will be visited on July 11 during an excursion by RAS Korea. Participation costs 30,000 won, or 25,000 won for RAS Korea members. Visit raskb.com for more information.

Matt VanVolkenburg has a master's degree in Korean studies from the University of Washington. He is the blogger behind populargusts.blogspot.kr, and co-author of "Called by Another Name: A Memoir of the Gwangju Uprising."