"Walking to Work Along Seongbukcheon, a Time to Reflect and Recharge"

Dong-A Pharmaceutical Senior Executive Gong Gyeongho Walks to Work
Commutes via Seongbukcheon in the Morning, Crosses Mia Ridge on the Way Home
Participation in Company Walking Donation Campaign as Motivation

Citizens and tourists are walking along Cheonggyecheon Stream, a great place to walk in harmony with nature. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Gong Kyungho, Senior Manager of the PR Team at Dong-A Pharmaceutical's Communications Office, often walks to and from Dong-A Pharmaceutical headquarters, which stretches from Gireum-dong in Seongbuk-gu to Yongdu-dong in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. On his way to work, he takes a bus over Mia-ri Hill, gets off at Sungshin Women's University, and walks along Seongbukcheon Stream. On his way home, he often walks along Seongbukcheon Stream and over Mia-ri Hill to his house. Gong says that walking is the only time when time seems to slow down. It is a moment to fully reflect on himself.

Gong said, "Due to the nature of my work, responding to company and product inquiries and issues makes each day pass very quickly and leaves me exhausted," adding, "On my way home, I fill my heart by watching the sunset, cats, fish, grass, and flowers whose names I don't know. It is a time to fully recharge myself to cheer myself on for tomorrow."

Gong's love for walking began with the company's walking donation campaign, 'D-Style Walking.' During the month-long campaign last year, he ranked 10th out of 715 employees, having walked 540,000 steps.

Results of the Healthy Donation Participated by Walking ':D-Style Walking' Conducted by Dong-A Socio Holdings

The average commute time in South Korea is 1 hour and 24 minutes. Although the destination differs for the return trip, the destination for the commute is always the office. Unless one lives close to their workplace, commuting is a continuous source of stress from the moment one wakes up until arriving at the office. There is not much one can do on the subway or bus besides listening to music or looking at a smartphone. The opportunity to take care of both physical and mental health is by walking to work. Walking is feasible for distances of 10 to 20 minutes, but beyond that, walking becomes a hassle.

This is why the Hamanhacheon (One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day Thousand Characters) National Movement Headquarters is starting a walking challenge for the commute in collaboration with WalkOn. If your commute is within 30 minutes from home to work, waking up 30 minutes to an hour earlier and walking that amount of time to work is good for health and improves work efficiency. Getting off one or two stops early and walking for 20 to 30 minutes results in about 3,000 steps. You don't need to set aside extra time to walk 10,000 steps a day. To build a good habit, at least three weeks, or the so-called 'three-week determination,' is necessary. After installing the health platform WalkOn, you can participate in the Hamanhacheon walking challenge. A participation fee is charged for commitment and motivation. If you walk 150,000 steps over three weeks starting after the Chuseok holiday, you will receive coupons worth about 22,000 KRW, including BHC coupons and cola. Writing experience posts on the bulletin board enters you into a draw for generous prizes.

Successful people all have their own routines. Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter (now X), wakes up every day at 5 a.m., meditates and exercises, then walks about 8 km, taking around 1 hour and 15 minutes to commute. Moon Songcheon, an emeritus professor at KAIST Business School in his seventies, also walks to work from Apgujeong-dong in Gangnam-gu to Hongneung in Dongdaemun-gu, where KAIST Business School is located. His walking commute takes two hours.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced the 'Walking 1·2·3 Lifestyle Rules' with citizens. The rules encourage getting off one stop earlier on the commute to walk more than 2 km a day and using stairs for floors below the third floor. In the past, Seoul designated the 11th of every month as a day to walk to work. Gangnam-gu gives coffee to the first 100 employees who achieve 2,000 steps on certain days each month during their commute. Jeju Bank designates the 21st of every month as 'Save Day,' when all employees walk to work. Many other companies and institutions hold walking-to-work campaigns on specific days such as Wednesdays or during certain periods.

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