— — a capital still drawing itself.
“South Korea's youngest city, established in 2012 as a planned administrative capital and named for King Sejong the Great. The Government Complex on the Geum River now houses most central-government ministries that moved south from Seoul. The plan was Kisho Kurokawa's: a ring city of low buildings around a central park, with a green-roofed government quarter that visitors can walk in a loop above the offices.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Sejong Special Self-Governing City was established in July 2012 as South Korea's new administrative capital, carved out of Chungcheongnam-do to relieve government congestion in Seoul. The city covers about 465 square kilometres in the centre of the Korean peninsula, roughly 120 kilometres south of Seoul along the Geum River. The 2024 population was around 390,000, growing roughly 4 percent a year. The official name honours King Sejong the Great, the 15th-century Joseon ruler who commissioned the Hangul writing system in 1443. Twenty-three government ministries and dozens of public agencies now sit inside the Government Complex.
The master plan came from the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who won the international competition in 2007 with a ring-city concept built around a central park and 22-kilometre development loop. The Government Complex, completed in 2014 by Haeahn Architecture and H Associates, runs as a single 3.5-kilometre serpentine building with a continuous green roof a visitor can walk end to end. The National Library of Korea Sejong Branch sits at one end, residential quarters at the other; the offices are stitched between.
Sejong is reached most directly by KTX high-speed train to Osong Station, twelve kilometres west, then a 15-minute bus or taxi into the city. From Seoul Station the trip runs about 90 minutes door to door; Incheon Airport adds an express link of roughly two and a half hours. The Government Complex roof walk is open during daylight hours and free to enter. Winter brings cold dry air and occasional snow; spring along the Geum River carries cherry blossom from early April.