Bundang-gu is the largest and most populous district (gu) of Seongnam, a major city in the Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. Bundang-gu is one of South Korea's wealthiest and highest developed areas, being the nation's first and largest completely artificial city built in the early 1990s. Many high-rise luxury condos moved in the early 2000s, with a second planned city built in the late 2000s called Pangyo in the same district. Apartment prices are the second highest in Gyeonggi-do after Gwacheon and 7th highest nationwide, higher than many central Seoul districts such as Mapo-gu or Jongno-gu. Apartments around Pangyo station and the high-rise luxury condos around Jeongja station and Sunae station rival prices in the most expensive areas in the country. Unlike older cities such as Seoul, Bundang has no telephone poles overground, resulting in a clean cityscape with well-designed streets.
Bundang is the headquarters of Korea's leading IT companies such as Naver and KT. Pangyo's Techno Valley is home to the country's leading game, entertainment and technology companies such as KakaoTalk, Samsung Techwin, AhnLab, Nexon, NCSOFT, Webzen and Hancom. Due to its close proximity to Seoul's affluent commercial center, Gangnam District, many residents also commute to Gangnam station via the Shinbundang Line, which takes only 15 minutes from Jeongja station. The Bundang Line subway connects many of the city's popular commercial areas to southeast Seoul, Yongin and Suwon. The city has a well-developed bus network reaching Seoul's central districts in 30~40 minutes due to being located at an intersection of Gyeongbu Expressway and Seoul Ring Expressway.
Bundang is home to many Koreans who lived overseas and the European-styled cafe streets serving brunch and pastas in Pangyo Avenue France, Baekhyeon-dong and Jeongja-dong reflect their culture. The city has a high percentage of parks and greenspace, most notably Bundang Central Park and Yuldong Park, which is built around the Bundang lake. Also, there is a jogging course with the 'Tan-cheon stream'. The Bundang's Seoul National University Hospital is among the largest in South Korea.
Name
The name Bundang came from the central town of Bundang-dong. The name "Bundang" is a new composite prefabricated name in the 1914 Japanese occupation of the administrative area. However, it was discovered during an investigation undertaken while Bundang was being developed that the character for Dang did not correspond to the one used centuries ago. Soon after Korea was annexed by Japan, in fact, the traditional Chinese character used to write the Dang in Dangwu-ri had been altered. In another land reorganization conducted in 1906, soon after Itō Hirobumi had been appointed Resident General of Korea, the character was changed from 堂 to 唐. The new character means the Tang dynasty of China (pronounced dang, 당, in Korean), which in 688, assisted the kingdom of Silla to conquer the other two Korean kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms period. While this was the first unification of the peninsula, it was conducted through military conquest by a country conspiring with a foreign power. (There have been various opinions as to why the Japanese authorities made the decision to replace the character, none of which can be corroborated by historical evidence). Thus, the character for dang currently being used in Bundang today has a poor connotation, and there is debate among scholars and administrators as to whether it should revert to the pre-colonial character , which means "hall" or "government office".
History
Before 1989
Since the Joseon dynasty, the land Bundang currently occupies was a part of Gwangju (then county); at the time, Seongnam only had Sujeong and Jungwon gus. This largely agricultural area was nothing like the present day, dotted as it was with dozens of small villages. Before the early 1990s, Bundang was a large farmland of rice paddies.
After 1989
The local government announced on April 27, 1989, that it would undertake construction of a futuristic and environmentally conscious city with a population of 450,000 people. Sixteen dongs in the surrounding area were to be amalgamated into a single city. This would include nine dongs from Dolma-myeon: Bundang-dong, Sunae-dong, Seohyeon-dong, Jeongja-dong, Imae-dong, Yatap-dong, Dochon-dong, Yeosu-dong and Yul-dong; in addition to six dongs from Nakseng-myeon: Gumi-dong, Baekhyun-dong, Dongwon-dong, Geumgok-dong, Sampyeong-dong and Gungnae-dong; and one dong from Daewong-myeon: Sasong-dong (now Pangyo-dong). Bundang was adopted as this new district's popular name.