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Noise, trash mar Seoul’s mural village

Ihwa-dong, located near Naksan Park in the northern part of central Seoul, is a quaint community which used to be a dull shantytown a decade ago.

In 2006, with the help of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the community transformed itself through what they called the “Naksan Project.” A total of 68 artists gathered to paint walls and install sculptures. An ordinary village soon turned into a booming tourist spot.

Despite its off-the-beaten-path location, the mural village has become overcrowded with local and foreign tourists, artsy cafes and stores. But the popularity of the village is not so welcomed by residents.

“All those coffee shops prospered but they’re run by outsiders who come in to make money,” said a woman surnamed Koo, a resident of Ihwa-dong for 30 years.

“To be honest, villagers here don’t see any advantages. Noise and trash are what’s left behind ever since our home became a mural village,” Koo added.

There are about 10 mural villages in Seoul, each operated and supervised by the autonomous district office and its public design division.

In response to residents’ complaints over privacy and littering, Jongno-gu has run the “Silent Campaign” since 2013, which aims to spread a quiet and nonintrusive sightseeing culture.

“We hand out leaflets and put up posters to promote the campaign. At the tourist information center, we play animated videos to help visitors understand that the (mural) village is also someone’s home,” said Lee Sun-min from Jongno-Gu’s tourism division.

However, residents in the area say that their voice should be heard more and that such themed villages should not be established without regulations.

“I don’t know what the district office is doing for us. No single trash bin is installed in our village. Newly painted stairs and walls actually do not provide us a better quality of life,” said Yoo, 78, who runs a corner shop in Ihwa Mural Village.

“I wake up early at 5 a.m. in the morning to clean up the street. All I ask is for visitors not to leave their trash on the fence or in between windows,” Yoo added.

“Or maybe, residents (here) will have to ask authorities to erase the murals,” she said.

In 2010, a popular local TV show “One Day Two Nights” featured a mural of two white angel wings in the village. After the show aired, the house with the mural of angel wings was inundated by visitors which eventually led to the resident removing the artwork.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)