Seoul, South Korea

Seoul Underground Shopping Centers and Walkways

UndergroundMixed ownershipActiveBuilt for several reasons

Seoul has two kinds of underground pedestrian network. Twenty-five city-owned underground shopping centres beneath streets such as Euljiro and Gangnam-daero are managed by the Seoul Facilities Corporation and leased to merchants by competitive bidding under a city ordinance. Separately, the privately owned COEX Mall at Samseong is owned by the Korea International Trade Association and run by Shinsegae as Starfield COEX Mall.

City-owned underground shopping centres25In Jung, Jongno, Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa and Yeongdeungpo districts[01]

Euljiro centre20,334 m², 216 shopsLinks Line 2 stations from Euljiro Entrance to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park[03]

Gangnam Station centre12,315 m², 212 shopsDirectly linked to Line 2 Gangnam Station[04]

Lease term5 yearsAwarded by general competitive bidding[02]

Hours (Gangnam Station)Shops 10:00–22:00; passage 24 hours

Hours (Euljiro)Shops 09:00–22:00; passage 05:00–01:00 weekdays

COEX Mall tenantsabout 460Private mall at Samseong; reopened after renovation in November 2014[06]

OwnershipMixedCity-owned centres plus privately owned COEX Mall[01]

Governance

Who owns it, who runs it, what the rules are.

Owner: The 25 underground shopping centres and their passages beneath public streets are owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and managed by the Seoul Facilities Corporation. COEX Mall is private property of the Korea International Trade Association within the Korea World Trade Center, operated under concession by Shinsegae.
Operator: Seoul Facilities Corporation, a city-owned local public enterprise, for the municipal centres; some are run directly and others through entrusted or master-lease operators selected by bidding. Shinsegae Property for Starfield COEX Mall.
Hours: Set centre by centre by the Seoul Facilities Corporation. Gangnam Station's passage is open 24 hours with shops 10:00–22:00. Euljiro's passage is open about 05:00–01:00 on weekdays with shops 09:00–22:00.[04]
Public right: The municipal centres sit within public underground walkways, and their corridors are kept open beyond shop hours, around the clock at Gangnam Station. COEX Mall is private space open at the owner's and operator's discretion.
Who pays: Municipal centres are financed from lease income collected by the Seoul Facilities Corporation, with first-year rent set by winning bids and later rents adjusted by appraisal. COEX Mall is privately funded and was remodelled in 2013–2014.

Legal instruments

Seoul Metropolitan City Underground Shopping Center Management Ordinance (서울특별시 지하도상가 관리 조례), Article 5 ↗Sets the selection of tenants by general competitive bidding for five-year leases, with rents adjusted by property appraisal; subleasing to individual tenants is not permitted.[02]

Governing bodies

Seoul Metropolitan GovernmentSeoul Facilities CorporationSeoul Metropolitan CouncilKorea International Trade Association (COEX)

Open issues

The ordinance's ban on subleasing and its shift to competitive bidding have been contested by long-standing merchants; details of the 2020s disputes were not verified for this record.
Shinsegae's 10-year COEX Mall operating concession, which began in December 2016, runs to about the end of 2026.

Timeline

1983Seoul Facilities Management Corporation, now the Seoul Facilities Corporation, is founded on 1 September as a local public enterprise; it later takes charge of the city's underground shopping centres.[05]
2000COEX Mall opens in full on 3 May beneath the Korea World Trade Center at Samseong.[06]
2014COEX Mall reopens on 27 November after a two-year remodelling.[06]
2016Shinsegae takes a 10-year operating concession for COEX Mall in December and rebrands it Starfield COEX Mall.[06]

The story

Seoul's underground pedestrian networks grew beneath its widest commercial streets, where shopping arcades line passages that link subway stations and let pedestrians avoid surface crossings. The city now owns 25 such underground shopping centres in six districts. The largest cluster runs under Euljiro and Jongno in the historic centre, and others serve Myeongdong, Gangnam Station, the Terminal centre in Seocho, Jamsil and Yeongdeungpo.

The Euljiro centre covers about 20,000 square metres with 216 shops. It links Line 2 stations from Euljiro Entrance eastward to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park, and its passage stays open from early morning to about 01:00 on weekdays. The Gangnam Station centre, with 212 shops on 12,315 square metres beneath Gangnam-daero, keeps its corridor open 24 hours a day.

These centres are managed by the Seoul Facilities Corporation, a local public enterprise founded in 1983. Under the city's underground shopping centre ordinance, tenants are chosen by general competitive bidding for five-year leases. Subleasing is prohibited, and rents after the first year follow property appraisals. Some centres are run directly by the corporation and others through entrusted operators. Disputes with long-standing merchants over these rules were reported in the 2020s, but their details were not verified for this record.

At Samseong, the COEX Mall is a different model. It is a private underground mall beneath the Korea World Trade Center, owned by the Korea International Trade Association and connected to Samseong and Bongeunsa stations. It opened in full in 2000 and was remodelled in 2013–2014. Since December 2016 it has been run by Shinsegae as Starfield COEX Mall under a 10-year concession.

Questions people ask

Who manages Seoul's underground shopping centres?

The Seoul Facilities Corporation, a city-owned public enterprise, manages 25 underground shopping centres on behalf of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

Is the Gangnam Station underground shopping centre open 24 hours?

The passage is open 24 hours. Shops generally trade from 10:00 to 22:00, year-round except some holidays.

How are shops in Seoul's underground arcades leased?

By general competitive bidding for five-year leases under the city's underground shopping centre ordinance. Subleasing to individual tenants is prohibited, and later rents follow property appraisals.

Who owns COEX Mall?

The Korea International Trade Association owns it. Shinsegae has operated it as Starfield COEX Mall under a 10-year concession since December 2016.

Sources

G:HA MALL – 서울시 지하도상가 — Seoul Facilities Corporation (2026)primary
지하도상가 임대 안내 (Underground shopping centre leasing guide) — Seoul Facilities Corporation (2026)primary
을지로 지하도상가 상세안내 — Seoul Facilities Corporation (2026)primary
강남역 지하도상가 상세안내 — Seoul Facilities Corporation (2026)primary
서울시설공단 — Korean Wikipedia (2025)
스타필드 코엑스몰 — Korean Wikipedia (2025)

About this record

Confidence medium · reviewed 2026-10-19. The session's shared web-search budget ran out before this record, so it rests on direct fetches of Seoul Facilities Corporation pages and Korean Wikipedia. The facilities corporation's homepage says 25 centres but its district list totals 23; verify. The 2020s leasing disputes the orchestrator asked about, including the transfer ban, the grace period and merchant protests, could not be sourced and are stated only generally. The ordinance text on the national law portal was not reachable, and its full title, amendment dates and transitional provisions need checking. Not found: opening years of the Euljiro and Gangnam centres, construction history such as civil-defence origins or build-and-donate arrangements, rent revenue, and COEX's post-2026 operating arrangement. The Gangnam lessee is shown on the city page as an individual trading as Korea Plant, which suggests a master-lease model. The centre point is on the Euljiro corridor as the largest municipal network, and the bounding box spans Euljiro to Gangnam and COEX.

Map geometry: 283 corridor features, © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), as of 2026-10-20. Levels come from OpenStreetMap tags and can be incomplete.

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Seoul Underground Shopping Centers and Walkways

UndergroundMixed ownershipActiveBuilt for several reasons

Who owns it, who runs it, what the rules are.

Owner

The 25 underground shopping centres and their passages beneath public streets are owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and managed by the Seoul Facilities Corporation. COEX Mall is private property of the Korea International Trade Association within the Korea World Trade Center, operated under concession by Shinsegae.

Operator

Seoul Facilities Corporation, a city-owned local public enterprise, for the municipal centres; some are run directly and others through entrusted or master-lease operators selected by bidding. Shinsegae Property for Starfield COEX Mall.

Hours

Set centre by centre by the Seoul Facilities Corporation. Gangnam Station's passage is open 24 hours with shops 10:00–22:00. Euljiro's passage is open about 05:00–01:00 on weekdays with shops 09:00–22:00.[04]

Public right

The municipal centres sit within public underground walkways, and their corridors are kept open beyond shop hours, around the clock at Gangnam Station. COEX Mall is private space open at the owner's and operator's discretion.

Who pays

Municipal centres are financed from lease income collected by the Seoul Facilities Corporation, with first-year rent set by winning bids and later rents adjusted by appraisal. COEX Mall is privately funded and was remodelled in 2013–2014.