Cheonho-dong

Neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea

Place in South Korea

37°32′38″N 127°07′41″E / 37.544°N 127.128°E / 37.544; 127.128CountrySouth KoreaArea

• Total3.07 km² (1.19 sq mi)Population

(2001)^[1]

• Total106,782 • Density34,782/km² (90,080/sq mi)

Cheonho-dong (Korean: 천호동) is a dong, neighbourhood of Gangdong-gu in Seoul, South Korea.^[1]^[2]

History

Cheonho means "Thousand of Houses", because its geographical location was believed to be an ideal place to live based on the Feng shui theory. In addition, there is a historical site of Pungnaptoseong, which is a flat earthen wall built at the edge of the Han River in the Baekje Era. Cheonho-dong is the only place where a huge department store such as Hyundai Department Store is located in the area of Gangdong-gu. Cheonho station is a transfer point between Seoul Subway Line 5 and Line 8. Cheonho-dong is a 60-minute Limousine bus ride away from Incheon International Airport.

Red-light district

Although prostitution is illegal in Korea, there is a long-established^[3] red-light district in Cheonho, known as "Texas Village".^[4] Since the introduction of the law banning prostitution in 2004 the number of brothels has declined.^[5] In December 2018, it was reported that there were still dozens of brothels in the area, and that an accidental fire in one had killed two women.^[6]

Area Information

Current Zip Code of Cheonho-dong is 134-020. 134 is for Gangdong-gu and 020 is for Cheonho-dong.

References

^ ^a ^b "천호동 (Cheonho-dong 千戶洞)" (in Korean). Doosan Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-04-18.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "The origin of Cheonho-dong" (in Korean). Gangdong-gu official site. Archived from the original on 2013-02-18. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
^ "Less brothels, more prostitution". Korea JoongAng Daily. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ "[Editorial] Prostitutes Have Human Rights Too". english.donga.com. 7 January 2002. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ Da-sol, Kim (15 March 2017). "Korea's infamous red-light zone to fade into history". The Korea Herald. The Korea Herald. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
^ "Fire in dilapidated Seoul brothel kills 2". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 1 February 2019.