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Itaewon, a hub for foreigners long known for its proximity to a major U.S. military base — and now identified with Seoul’s deadly Halloween crowd crush — has long occupied a distinctive place in the South Korean capital’s history.
The Chinese characters, which the Korean language is based on, for “Itae” recalls “stranger” or “foreigner” that references the country’s historical occupation by Mongols, Chinese, Japanese and then Americans. Yongsan was occupied by the Japanese and then Americans. The United States occupied the Yongsan base after World War II and began leaving in 2017, largely seen as finally returning the land back to Korea, although many issues are still in dispute.
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