Gwangmyeong Cave

Full transcript

Annyeong, yeoreobun! Yul here, and we're going underground! Welcome to Gwangmyeong Cave, just outside Seoul. It's cool, it's a little spooky, and it has one of the wildest life stories in Korea.

This was never a natural cave. It was a mine! It opened in 1912, during the Japanese colonial period, and miners dug out gold, silver, copper and zinc. Many of those resources were taken away, and the work was hard and dangerous.

In 1972, the mine closed. And then? For decades, local people used the cold, dark tunnels to store salted shrimp, saeujeot, for making kimchi. A gold mine turned into a shrimp fridge. Only in Korea!

Then, in 2011, the city of Gwangmyeong bought it and turned it into a cave theme park. Today you'll find a glowing light show, an underground waterfall, an aquarium, a wine cave where you can taste Korean wines, and giant sculptures made by the same studio that worked on The Lord of the Rings. Yes, you might meet a dragon down here.

And the temperature stays around twelve degrees all year. So in summer, it's natural air conditioning. In winter, it actually feels warm. Perfect any season.

Yul's tip! Bring a light jacket, wear comfortable shoes because it's a bit slippery, and buy a bottle of Korean cave wine as a souvenir.

Next, let's meet two heroes who still stand in the middle of Seoul. Kaja!