Yongma Land is a small abandoned

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

in Yongmasan,

Jungnang District Jungnang District (Jungnang-gu) is one of the 25 ''gu'', or districts, of Seoul, South Korea. It is located on the north side of the Han River. It is characterized by a typical residential area with many natural green areas such as Yongma, Mang ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It operated from 1980 to 2011.

History

Yongma Land opened in 1980 as a family-friendly amusement park. Yongma Land was a popular location for local families for the first decade after it opened. However, when

Lotte World Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea. It consists of the world's largest indoor theme park, an outdoor amusement park called "Magic Island", an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a lu ...

opened in 1989, people lost interest in the smaller Yongma Land. The park was renovated in 1995, with new attractions added. The park officially ceased operation in 2011 after the city revoked their license. Rides in the park included a

carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (List of sovereign states, international), roundabout (British English), or hurdy-gurdy (an old term in Australian English, in South Australia, SA) is a type of amusement ...

bumper cars Bumper cars or dodgems are the generic names for a type of flat amusement ride consisting of multiple small electrically powered cars which draw power from the floor and/or ceiling, and which are turned on and off remotely by an operator. Bumpe ...

, and an

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

-themed ride.

Present Day

Though it is no longer operating as an amusement park, the area continues to attract about 50 to 60 visitors each day, such as

urban explorers Urban exploration (often shortened as UE, urbex and sometimes known as roof and tunnel hacking) is the exploration of manmade structures, usually abandoned ruins or hidden components of the manmade environment. Photography and historical inter ...

cosplayers Cosplay, a portmanteau of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers oft ...

photographers A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

, and professionals in the

video production Video production is the process of producing video content for video. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard dri ...

industries. The current owner of the property allows visitors for a small fee. Money collected from visitor fees allows the owner to maintain

arrested decay Arrested decay is a term coined by the United States, U.S. State of California, to explain how it would preserve its Bodie, California, Bodie State Historic Park. A more common application of this concept is the preservation of war ruins as memoria ...

in the park. Several television shows have filmed at the park, including Cafe Minamdang,

Heartless City ''Heartless City'' () is a 2013 South Korean television series starring Jung Kyung-ho, Nam Gyu-ri and Lee Jae-yoon. It aired on JTBC from May 27 to July 30, 2013 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 23:00 ( KST) time slot for 20 episodes. Synopsis This ...

, and Sisyphus: The Myth.

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, gos ...

groups and singers, including

Crayon Pop Crayon Pop (Hangul: 크레용팝) is a South Korean girl group formed under Chrome Entertainment in 2012. The group consisted of four members: Geummi, Ellin, Choa, and Way. Their fifth member, Soyul, left the group in 2017. Crayon Pop officiall ...

Dreamcatcher In some Native American and First Nations cultures, a dreamcatcher ( oj, asabikeshiinh, the inanimate form of the word for 'spider') is a handmade willow hoop, on which is woven a net or web. It may also be decorated with sacred items such as ...

and

Baek Ji-young Baek Ji-young (; born March 25, 1976), also known as Baek Z Young, is a South Korean singer. She made her debut in 1999, with the release of her album ''Sorrow''. Over her career she has released eight studio albums and won awards for Best Fem ...

, have used the park for

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

References

{{Reflist Buildings and structures in Jungnang District Amusement parks in South Korea 1980 establishments in South Korea 2011 disestablishments in South Korea Defunct amusement parks Amusement parks opened in 1980 Amusement parks closed in 2011 Modern ruins 20th-century architecture in South Korea