Nodeulseom () is an artificial island in the River Han in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, South Korea. The uninhabited island is located to the east of the larger island of

Yeouido Yeouido (), also Yohido, is a river island on the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It is Seoul's main finance, media, and investment banking district. It is large and has a population of 32,674 . The island is located in the Yeongdeungpo Dis ...

Hangang Bridge The Hangang Bridge () crosses the Han River in Seoul, South Korea. It connects the districts of Yongsan to the north and Dongjak to the south, and crosses over the artificial island of Nodeulseom. The bridge carries eight lanes of traffic. T ...

passes directly over the island. On September 28, 2019, the island was re-opened as a music-themed cultural complex following a four-year renovation project. On the island, there are various cultural facilities including an outdoor music space, bookstore, a large green open area and a two-meter moon art installation called Moonlight Nodeul.

History

Before the 20th century, this area was part of the mainland and on the bank of the Han River. In this area and during the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

period, there was a village called Shincho-ri (). It was attested to existing in 1683. Around the 1900's, it had possibly around 300 residents, with upper and lower subdivisions ( and ). These areas were possibly elevated from the rest of the area in order to dodge the Han River's regular floods.In 1913, during the 1910–1945 Japanese colonial period, ethnic Korean marquis of the Japanese Empire (a member of the royal

House of Yi The House of Yi, also called the Yi dynasty (also transcribed as the Lee dynasty), was the royal family of the Joseon dynasty and later the imperial family of the Korean Empire, descended from the Joseon founder Yi Seong-gye. All of his descendan ...

) claimed ownership of the land of Shincho-ri and sold it to the

Government-General of Chōsen Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

without the consent of its occupants. Japanese tax collectors arrived and demanded that Korean residents pay taxes to them; people who did not were reportedly beat and threatened. In response, 86 male residents of Shincho-ri filed a lawsuit in the

Keijō , or Gyeongseong (), was an administrative district of Korea under Japanese rule that corresponds to the present Seoul, the capital of South Korea. History When the Empire of Japan annexed the Korean Empire, it made Seoul the colonial capita ...

District Court against Yi. During the lawsuit, it was revealed that Yi had no documentation to prove that he had owned the land; he claimed that they were lost during the turmoils of the previous few decades. Three months after the lawsuit was filed, an elder of Shincho-ri who had spearheaded the lawsuit was sentenced to three months in prison for embezzlement; a reporter for ''The Hankyoreh'' theorizes the arrest was motivated by or related to their lawsuit. Within four years of the lawsuit's filing, the village was forcibly removed. The colonial government extracted a large amount of sand from the area, which resulted in the plot of land becoming an island, which was dubbed in Japanese "Nakanoshima" (). The

was constructed over the island, and opened on October 7, 1917. The bridge was eventually destroyed by the U.S. military in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

to prevent the North Koreans from using it, although it was eventually rebuilt. During the 1970s and 1980s, the land was further altered during the presidencies of

Park Chung Hee Park Chung Hee (; ; November14, 1917October26, 1979) was a South Korean politician and army officer who served as the third president of South Korea from 1962 after he seized power in the May 16 coup of 1961 until Assassination of Park Chung ...

and

Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...

, who extracted more sand from the island. In accordance with a development plan in 1989, a tennis court was built on the island. A plan once existed to build a large-scale citizen's park on the island, but this was abandoned. In the mid-2000s, it was proposed to build an opera house on the island, but this did not come to pass. In the early 2010s, a plan existed to have community farms on the island. In October 2017, construction began on a small performing arts center on the island, which opened on September 28, 2019.

References

External links

{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of South Korea Artificial islands of South Korea Islands of Seoul Korea under Japanese rule Islands of the Han River (Korea)

History

See also

References

External links