Seoul City Opens Phase 1 Service Test of 'Metaverse Seoul'... Official Launch in November

Seoul City Hall, Plaza, Avatar Virtual Consultation Room, and More: Private Test Operation for 3,200 Citizens

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 30th that it will open a closed beta test of some of the first-phase services of the virtual convergence technology-based project, "New Continent of Seoul, Metaverse Seoul," to actual service users on the 31st.

Seoul established the basic plan for Metaverse Seoul in October last year and has been gradually implementing metaverse services across city administration over five years until 2026. The closed beta test participants include about 3,200 users, such as mentoring counseling users of the online education platform SeoulLearn and experts from the Seoul IT New Technology Governance Group, and the test will run until the official launch in November.

The purpose of this closed beta test, conducted ahead of the official launch of the first-phase project scheduled for the end of November, is to monitor user reactions to some services and enhance service completeness.

During the test operation period, users can experience Metaverse Seoul City Hall and the plaza, where reality and virtuality blend, and engage in experiences and activities that are difficult to encounter in real life. At Seoul City Hall, cute animals are placed in the lobby to interact interestingly with avatars, and there is an open-book caf? space where users can browse Seoul City’s e-books.

The avatar virtual counseling room is a space where SeoulLearn youth can freely consult with mentors about learning and concerns. Mentors and mentees meet and interact in a space that cannot be experienced in reality, making learning counseling enjoyable. In the space-themed counseling room lobby, users can check various promotional contents and announcements and meet mentoring NPCs (Non-Player Characters) who guide and assist with the service.

Seoul plans to actively reflect citizens’ responses and opinions gathered through this test service opening in the first-phase construction of "Metaverse Seoul" and officially open the service to citizens at the end of November.

Lee Hye-kyung, Seoul’s Digital Policy Officer, said, “We will strive to provide better services by collecting citizens’ opinions on the Metaverse Seoul platform, which Seoul is leading in building.” She added, “Starting with the introduction of metaverse technology into city administration this year, we will expand metaverse administrative services specialized in economy, culture, education, and tourism without spatial and temporal constraints in the future.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.