Seoul Opens Five-Kilometer Morning Loop on City Streets

Seoul on March 14 hosted a city-run event that opens a section of its busy urban streets to pedestrians and recreational activity. The program, called Shu-eum-shi-eum Morning, turns a portion of the Yeoui-daero corridor and the Mapo Bridge area into a five-kilometer round trip open to walking, running, cycling, and other family-friendly activities.

The event, held from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m., uses a partial road-closure approach rather than a full street shutdown. Selected lanes are repurposed for the public, while opposing-direction traffic remains allowed in some sections to minimize disruption for residents and commuters.

Participants included people walking, running, or biking, and the program welcomes families with strollers and pets. The route begins at Yeouido Park, follows Yeoui-daero toward Mapo Bridge, and then returns to the park for a total of about five kilometers.

At the finish line, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon encouraged participants and visited a nearby health-check site set up at Yeouido Park’s Culture Yard. He said the city plans to keep developing programs that help citizens enjoy Seoul in a healthy way and to foster healthy habits through ongoing activities.

The Shu-eum-shi-eum Morning program is part of Seoul’s broader “Seoul-style lifelong physical activity” initiative, which aims to reimagine car-centric urban spaces as accessible public spaces for health and community life. The program’s partial-closure model is designed to minimize traffic disruption while expanding access to active city living.

For readers outside Korea, this event highlights a growing trend in U.S. and global cities to repurpose street space for pedestrians, cyclists, and light recreation. Open-street or car-free-style events can inform urban-planning debates in American cities seeking to reduce congestion, improve public health, and support local economies without sacrificing essential traffic flow.

The choice of the Yeoudo and Mapo Bridge corridor places the event on a central axis of Seoul’s riverfront districts. Yeouido Park sits on Yeouido Island along the Han River, while Mapo Bridge connects Mapo and Yeongdeungpo districts, illustrating how urban revitalization efforts can leverage key civic and recreational assets to foster community activity.