Secondly it is important for being a "nature park." If it were a regular park Seoul Forest would have the usual amusement facilities. Of course there are benches, a visitors center, restrooms, football field, and an open theatre for cultural events, but the facilities are limited to the bare minimum needed by citizens in order to enjoy nature. It is the result of the realization that nothing beats "green nature" in healing the mind and body of people fatigued from city life. A natural forest has been built with elk and deer running about in a natural environment. People cannot enter the forest themselves, but can see that "nature within the city" from walking bridges above.
Finally the park is significant for having been made largely through the leadership of private citizens. It was not constructed unilaterally at the hands of the city government. The body behind Seoul Forest's construction is Seoul Green Trust, an organization that his half-government and half-private. Accepting the citizen demands for more green areas, the city gave 350,000 pyeong in land, and private citizens then sought corporate participation and organized volunteers to build the forest. The city government will provide for managing the "hardware" such as the facilities there, and an organization called "Love for Seoul Forest" is doing the "software" of environmental education, publicity, and marketing.
The two and a half year process of constructing a nature park so hurriedly was not without problems, but now the role of solidifying this beautiful park ecologically and structurally lies with the city's citizens.
The Hankyoreh, 20 June 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]