Jongno-gu District Mayor Yu Chan-jong attended a ceremony Friday at Changuimun Gate along the Hanyang City Wall to mark the completion of a 6.5-kilometer trail network on Bugaksan — also known as Baegaksan — built over six years through three phases of development.
Organized by the Cultural Heritage Administration, the event celebrated the opening of a newly completed trail on the southwestern slope of the mountain, the last section to remain off-limits to the public.
With the full opening now complete, all sections of Bugaksan are connected into a single continuous route. Yu and local residents gathered to mark the occasion and celebrate what many described as a long-awaited milestone.
Jongno-gu has worked with the Cultural Heritage Administration and other agencies since 2020 to open the mountain in stages, with the goal of giving all citizens uninterrupted access to Bugaksan's natural scenery and cultural heritage.
The first phase, completed in 2020, opened a 2.2-kilometer trail along the northern slope outside the Hanyang City Wall. The second phase, carried out from 2021 to 2022, added 3.0 kilometers of trail on the southern slope inside the wall and around Baekakjeong Pavilion, along with 1.3 kilometers on the southwestern slope — the area covered by the third and final phase.
"With all sections of Bugaksan now connected, we expect Jongno-gu's tourism resources to become significantly richer," Yu said. "We will strengthen management of the newly opened areas and continue maintaining facilities so that every visitor can safely and comfortably enjoy the mountain's value as a designated scenic site."
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