'Gwanghwamun Square Narrative, Ideology, and Rebirth' ...Published by Kang Byung-ho, Former Director of Welfare Policy, Seoul City

Creating Unfamiliar Public Square Spaces in Our Society While Tracing the Meaning and Historical Development of Squares... Book Released Less Than Two Weeks Ago on Yes24 Online Bookstore Rises to Political and Diplomatic Bestsellers, Sparking Attention

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Recently, a book titled Gwanghwamun Square: Narrative, Ideology, and Rebirth, written by a former public official, has become a hot topic.

Currently, on the yes24 online bookstore, the book has been listed among the bestsellers in politics and diplomacy within less than two weeks since its release.

The notable figure is Professor Kang Byung-ho, a visiting professor at Seoul City University and former Director of Welfare Policy at Seoul City. The author, who passed the civil service exam, was assigned to plan Gwanghwamun Square in 2006 when Mayor Oh Se-hoon took office and promoted the Urban Re-creation Project while working at Seoul City.

The author traces the meaning and historical development of the square, a public space unfamiliar to our society. Ultimately, the square is discovered as an ideological space that serves as a public forum for discussing and demanding public issues, acting as the departure point, stopover, and final harbor of democracy.

Encountering the historical fact that the Joseon Dynasty’s Yukjo Street, considered a prototype in terms of form and use of squares in Korean society, spatialized Confucianism and Feng Shui ideology into a system of governance by king and ministers (gunshingongchi-je), the author’s exploration continues through the Japanese colonial period, the regimes of Syngman Rhee and Park Chung-hee after liberation, the direct presidential election amendment of 1987, and up to the recent Candlelight Square protests.

Furthermore, the author finds a model of dialectical development between square space and ideology in the work The Production of Space by the renowned French philosopher Henri Lefebvre. The ruling and governing classes spatially reproduce their ideology in the city’s central spaces to stabilize, consolidate, and perpetuate their dominance, with the main function of the square being the display of the king’s dignity and authority.

However, as the theory of popular sovereignty spread?asserting that the legitimacy and authenticity of the regime lie not with a deity but with the people?the consciousness of the subordinate class matured, and with citizens equipped with vision and strategy developing into a civic ideology, the ruling ideology’s division and confrontation transformed the square into a resistant square.

In modern society, as the ideologies of the ruling and subordinate classes converge and merge into democracy, the square is once again transformed into a communicative square. The author argues that this era’s square calls for substantive and substantial democracy beyond procedural and formal democracy.

While the topic may be somewhat academic, the narrative unfolds through both official history and unofficial accounts, crossing the boundaries between novel and nonfiction. Particularly interesting is the refutation of the historical basis for the direction and form of Gwanghwamun Square, which was reopened on August 6 this year, and its connection to the creation of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.

The author argues that, at some unknown future time, the form of Gwanghwamun Square should be transformed into a fully pedestrianized square, proposing the establishment of a square creation fund as a practical alternative.

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