Seoul to Beautify Concrete River Embankments

The drab concrete embankments that still constrain the Han River will be replaced with hundreds of thousands more trees, grass and gravel, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.

Mayor Oh Se-hoon earlier pledged to beautify the river in order to make the city more appealing to tourists and citizens alike. "It is part of plans to make the city more attractive and develop the Han River in an eco-friendly way so that people and wildlife can co-exist," a city official said.

Until the 1980s, it was possible to swim in the river, but the government carried out a drastic modernization project from 1982 to 1986 that resulted in 82 km of concrete embankments aimed at preventing erosion and flooding by the lights of the time.

But since 2007 the concrete embankments have been gradually removed, leaving only a 10.2 km section still channeled in cement.

The city hopes to finish the eco restoration of the entire river by 2025.