Pyongyang, North Korea
Photograph via SkyscraperCity.com
Photograph by CHRIS PRICE
Photograph by CHOUDEN BOY
A Tale of Two Cities
| Seoul, South Korea | Pyongyang, North Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 10,464,051 | 3,255,388 |
| Total Area | 605.25 km2 (233.7 sq mi) | 3,194 km2 (1,232.2 sq mi) |
| Population Density | 17,288.8/km2 (44,777.8/sq mi) | 1,019.2/km2 (2,639.8 sq m) |
Seoul, South Korea Highlights:
– Seoul, officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea
– The Seoul National Capital Area is the world’s second largest metropolitan area with over 25 million inhabitants
– Over half of South Korea’s population live in the Seoul National Capital Area
– It has a fast, high-penetration 100 Mbit/s fibre-optic broadband network, which is being upgraded to 1 Gbit/s by 2012.
– Seoul Station houses the 350 km/h KTX bullet train and the Seoul Subway is the third largest in the world, with over 200 million passengers every year
– Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup
– Seoul proper is noted for its population density, which is almost twice as concentrated as New York and eight times greater than Rome, though slightly less than that of Paris [Source]
Pyongyang, North Korea Highlights:
– Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea
– It is administered as a directly governed city, on the same level as provincial governments, not a special city as Seoul is in South Korea
– The capital has been completely redesigned since the Korean War (1950–1953). It is designed with wide avenues, imposing monuments, and monolithic buildings
– The tallest structure in the city is the uncompleted 330-metre (1,083 ft) Ryugy?ng Hotel. This hotel has 105 floors, encloses 361,000 square metres (3,885,772 sq ft) of floor space, and was planned to be topped by seven revolving restaurants
– Notable landmarks in the city include the Kumsusan Memorial Palace, the Arch of Triumph (heavily inspired by Paris’s Arc de Triomphe but of a larger size), the reputed birthplace of Kim Il-sung at Mangyongdae Hill, Juche Tower, and two large stadiums
– The city also has regular international rail services to Beijing and Moscow. A journey to Beijing takes about 25 hours and 25 minutes; a journey to Moscow takes 6 days [Source]
Seoul, South Korea
Photograph by LORENZO ZUCCHI
Photograph by ANDREW CURRIE
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