Hongdae Streets

Date: Saturday. March 19, 2022. 2:00PM
Tour Leader: Jon Dunbar
Cost: KRW25,000 for RAS Korea members; KRW 30,000 for Non-members

Meeting Point: At the top of the stairs of Exit 8, Sinchon Station (Line 2, Green Line) at 2:00PM.

RSVP by March 16 (Wednesday)  by clicking HERE with payment of the fee via bank transfer. *There is no longer a ‘Pay exact amount on arrival’ option for payment.

Please register one RSVP at a time.

☞Payment to be remitted to the following account:
SHINHAN BANK ACCOUNT # 100-026-383501 (RAS-KB)

*Reservation is not confirmed until payment has been received by RAS Korea in advance of the event.

Description:
For about three decades, the area around Hongik University has been symbolic of youth culture in Korea. For years it was ground zero for the country’s live music scene, and in more recent years gentrification has changed its character to more of a tourism and shopping destination. Under all the sheen of bright lights and throbbing music, it’s still possible to find traces of what had been there before.

We will follow the old train routes of the Gyeongui, Sinchon, and Danginri Lines, and visit sites along the way such as Hongdae Playground, the former location of Duriban which centered around a 521-day anti-eviction sit-in protest, several live music venues past and present, and what might be the oldest extant graffiti in Korea. Stories of crazier times will be shared all along the way.

At the end of the tour, pandemic rules permitting, we’ll likely stick around the area for food and drinks and maybe a concert, not covered by the tour participation fee.

Leader: 
Jon Dunbar has been a part of the Korean punk scene since December 2003. He’s published 29 issues of the punk zine Broke in Korea and the fiction novel “Hongdae Fire,” and operates Korea’s oldest remaining English-language blog, as well as managed the Korean Punk and Hardcore Facebook page, which has over 10,000 followers.