Gwangjang Market

This guide to Gwangjang Market traces its start in 1905, when Korean merchants pooled together an enormous sum to build a market of their own rather than hand Namdaemun Market to Japanese occupiers, and how it became Korea's first market to stay open every single day. It follows the market through a name change and a century of trade to the food alleys you're walking now. Follow the smell of sizzling mung bean batter toward the stalls selling tiny rice rolls locals gave a strange nickname to.