Jongno: the Affordable Playground for Old Men in Seoul

By Lee Suh-yoon

Every day after breakfast, Lee Ki-hyuk, 73, leaves his home and takes a 30-minute subway ride to a small lot nestled between the walls of Tapgol Park and Nakwon Instrument Arcade in Jongno-gu, downtown Seoul.

A former public servant, Lee has lunch at a free canteen for the elderly run by Buddhist monks on arrival.

He then settles himself down on a plastic stool in between his peers to watch a good game of 'janggi' (Korean chess).

'I play too sometimes but I'm no good,' Lee says, fingering his military honors cap with one hand.

'We don't usually bet money because that just starts fights.'

Two men play each other on a janggi chessboard as others watch.

/ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

The scene replays itself every day here outside the northern walls of Tapgol Park. Old men like Lee, retired and with more time to spare than money, chat and sit hunched over chessboards.

When bored with watching the games, Lee takes walks inside Tapgol Park or up and down Insa-dong's main tourist road. 'Tourist-watching,' Lee claims, is now a hobby.

'Time passes really well here and watching people just come and go really lifts my mood,' he says.

Kim Yeong-joong, 77, dyes his hair at a barber shop near Tapgol Park.

He says he is a regular customer here. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Apart from its accessible location near Exit 5 of Jongno 3-ga Station, which is crisscrossed by three subway lines, the area is perfectly furbished for elderly men stuck in retirement.

Affordable food and beer establishments line the road, punctuated by dodgy Oriental medicine stalls and 200 won coffee machines that distract passersby. Inside barber shops, old men comb back their hair in front of the mirror after their 4,000 won ($3.

50) haircuts.

Money is offered too.

A handwritten poster on a signpost offers a part-time job as senior parcel deliveryman, while a placard on a pawnshop reads: 'We buy your gold teeth.'

A man smokes outside the wall of Tapgol Park.

/ Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Old women only wander in occasionally in twos or threes, generating much attention if they happen to ask for directions. An alley full of motels branches off the main street.

Higher up, on the second and third floors, signs indicating saju (Korean fortune-telling) businesses, seedy DVD rooms, and dabang (old-style coffeehouses) beckon passersby. Many - like the accordion-playing club, trot-singing classroom and pansori (traditional narrative song) research...