"Too many tourists"...In the end, I decided to go to Bukchon Hanok Village.

ⓒYTN

A "night curfew" has been established in Bukchon Hanok Village in Jongno-gu, Seoul, which has been plagued by flooding tourists.

Jongno-gu, Seoul, began a pilot operation of the tourist visit time limit policy from the 1st of this month to protect the settlement rights of Bukchon residents and establish the right tourism culture.

In the future, tourists will be restricted from 5 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next day in the "Red Zone" in the Bukchon Special Management Area. The

Red Zone' is an area where residential hanoks are concentrated, and there are many complaints from residents who have suffered from noise, garbage dumping, and invasion of privacy caused by tourists.

However, residents, acquaintances, relatives, merchants, lodging guests, shop users, etc. are permitted to enter.

Jongno-gu will hold a guidance period until February 28 next year to prevent confusion in the early stages of implementation, and will crack down in earnest from March 1 next year.

A fine of 100,000 won will be imposed on tourists who enter the "red zone" during the limited time.

Starting from January 2026, tourist bus traffic will also be restricted.

Nearby residents are generally reported to be welcoming the curfew. This is because the noise problem is serious as tourists walk around day and night, and buses taken by foreign group tourists often park on the road without permission, causing inconvenience in traffic.

However, there is a difference in the position of merchants who operate shops near Bukchon Hanok Village. I understand the inconvenience residents are experiencing, but if traffic is restricted, not only the time but also the tourists themselves can be cut off.

Meanwhile, according to Jongno-gu, there are about 6,100 residents of Bukchon, and 6.64 million visitors visited Bukchon last year. Due to such "over-tourism" damage, more and more residents are moving from Bukchon. The population of Bukchon has decreased by 27.6 percent in the past five years.

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team