Simple question, really. Wikipedia says that Busan was the only major city that remained in ROK hands during the entire Korean war. It also apparently served as a temporary capitol during the war. Why did the ROK, after the Korean war, return the capitol to Seoul, right in artillery range of the DMZ? Wasn’t Seoul absolutely levelled during the war and had to be completely rebuilt? Why not keep it in Busan, where it was safer?
Busan (or Pusan for us old-timers) is a smaller city that was just a wartime capital. Keeping the capital in Busan rather than returning to Seoul would have appeared as a lack of confidence in the ability of the South Korean government to defend itself.
Washington D.C. was a stone’s throw away from the CSA.
That’s true. Not strictly germane, because the circumstances were very different, but true nonetheless.
Is Seoul useful, in terms of physical geography? Is it a natural hub for transportation or industry given its location?
Because it’s the Seoul of South Korea!
Sorry, I’ll go now.
Once Korea is re-unified (hey, nobody thought it ever happen in Germany either) Seoul will be centrally located, which is a perfect location. Perhaps they were planning for the long versus short term…
And everyone knows you have to keep (legislative) body and Seoul together.
Capitals also have a certain amount of phycological significance for a country as a whole. The loss of a capital to the enemy is not necessarily fatal, but it is a hammer blow. Significantly the return of the Government to Seoul could have been seen as symbolic example of recovery?
Well, Seoul has a long history as the capital and an even longer history as a major city, so it only makes sense. It’s been basically “the” capital for 600 years and was a major regional city and capital for over a millennium before that. And, as mentioned above, it’s centrally located for the peninsula at large.
Much of the actual South Korean government is being moved south of the city for various reasons, such as safety in case of North Korean aggression and overpopulation (Seoul has one of the top 5 largest, if not actually the largest metropolitan populations in the developed world).
And while I understand that Americans pronounce it like “soul”, it’s actually two distinct syllables: Seo-ul, which I can’t imagine is particularly easy for an English speaker to pronounce (few of my friends can manage it, at least).
Designation of a capital city is an issue determined more by tradition and emotion than utility or logic.
To put it in more pragmatic terms, as far as I know when the Korean war ended I don’t think North Korea had artillery that could reach Seoul. And by the time North Korea had that artillery it was too expensive to relocate the capital.
I find it hard to believe they rebuilt Seoul in 1954 knowing it was directly under the guns of the North.