Seomun Market () is the largest traditional
street market
A street market or open-air market, with alternative names such as: market square and sometimes charity market, in cases where the sale is made for charity reasons, is a market that is set up on certain days of the week, generally on the street i ...
in
Daegu
Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...
, South Korea, containing more than 4,000 shops. Seomun Market is particularly known as a source for textiles and sewing services, a key ingredient of Daegu's
fashion industry
Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...
.
The name "Seomun" means "west gate," and refers to the location of the market just outside the old west gate of Daegu Castle, which was demolished in 1907. It is also one of the country's oldest markets, dating to a 5-day market held in the area in the late
Joseon Dynasty
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 ...
. In the final years of Joseon, Seomun market was one of the country's three largest markets. The market was constituted in its present form in 1920.
Although portions of the market are in the open air or small buildings, most of the shops are in large buildings holding hundreds or thousands of individual shops. The largest of these buildings was Building 2, which was destroyed by fire in late December 2005.
Plans for the reconstruction of Building 2, which held the majority of the market's fabric shops, are still being made. There are four other building complexes, and two other large shopping areas. Side streets in the market area also feature a large number of indoor and outdoor food stalls with fish and traditional dishes.
The market can be reached both by
Cheongnaeondeok Station on
Daegu Metro Line 2 and
Seomun Market Station on
Daegu Metro Line 3.
On November 30, 2016, a massive fire destroyed all the stores in the market.
Since 2019, the market has been selected every year for the '100 Must-Visit Tourist Spots of Korea,' jointly designated by the
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the
Korea Tourism Organization
The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO; ) is an organization of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is commissioned to promote the country's tourism industry.
The KTO was established in 1962 ...
.
Gallery
File:1957년 대구 서문시장 상가 신축공사.jpg, The market in 1957
File:Seommunmarket2005.JPG, Stalls in the market (2005)
File:Seomon Tea, Daegu.jpg, Tea sold in the market (2010)
See also
*
List of markets in South Korea
Major cities in South Korea typically have several traditional Market (place), markets, each with vendors selling a wide variety of goods including fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, breads, clothing, textiles, handicrafts, souvenirs, and Korean Ko ...
*
List of South Korean tourist attractions
*
Economy of South Korea
The economy of South Korea is a highly developed mixed economy. By nominal GDP, the economy was worth (US$1.87 trillion). It has the 4th largest economy in Asia and the 13th largest in the world as of 2025. South Korea is notable for its ...
References
External links
Seomun Sijang Information Center
Jung District, Daegu
Retail markets in Daegu
{{retail-market-stub