Tapgol Park

This guide to Tapgol Park in Seoul opens on the first of March 1919, when a young student named Jeong Jae-yong climbed onto the park's octagonal pavilion and read Korea's declaration of independence to a crowd that had no idea what was coming. It follows word of that reading as it spread across the country within days, and turns to the ten-story stone pagoda behind glass that gave the park its name, carved around 1467 for the temple Wongaksa. The guide also revisits 1960, when citizens gathered here again during a separate uprising. Stand near the pagoda and look up before the crowds arrive.