Seoul erecting mileposts showing distance to sister cities

A milepost showing distances to foreign cities stands at Seoul Plaza. / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government

By Kang Seung-woo

The Seoul Metropolitan City is installing mileposts that show the distances to 15 global cities from Seoul, the city government said, Thursday.

It has already set up 13 so far and plans to set up seven more by the end of this month in major areas of the capital -- major tourist attractions such as Itaewon and Myeong-dong, as well as parks including Seoul Forest, Seoul Grand Park and the Han River area.

Ten of the 15 cities are Pyongyang, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Washington, D.C., Sao Paulo, Paris, London, Moscow and Cairo, all of whom are Seoul's sister and friendship cities except for the North Korean capital.

The remaining five will be determined depending on the location of each installed area. For example, one post at Seoul Plaza includes Taipei, Ottawa, Mexico City, Berlin and South Africa's Tshwane.

Pyongyang is not Seoul's sister city, but the city government decided to include the North Korean capital, 196 kilometers from Seoul, amid the ongoing cross-border reconciliatory mood along with two inter-Korean summits, the unified women's hockey team at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and reunions of families separated by the Korean War.

“As a new landmark for Seoul, the mileposts show Seoul's wishes to develop exchanges with the foreign cities and Pyongyang,” a city official said.