![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.colinmarshall.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Yongma-land.jpg\")
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Each month\u00a0I join\u00a0Kurt Achin, host of\u00a0Koreascape<\/a><\/em> on Seoul\u2019s English-language radio station TBS eFM, for\u00a0an exploration of one of Seoul\u2019s urban spaces. This time, along with producer Jamie Lee and a few\u00a0Koreascape\u00a0<\/em>interns, we make the journey to Yongma Land, a long-abandoned neighborhood amusement park in eastern Seoul that has recently drawn such crowds as couples on dates, engagement photographers, Instagrammers, and no small number of music videos<\/a> and television drama shoots.<\/p>\n But though it has become beloved again, the question remains: who abandoned Yongma Land, letting all its attractions \u2014 its rideable space ships and squids, its Madonna and Bruce Springsteen portrait-adorned\u00a0disco ppang ppang<\/em>, its much-photographed merry-go-round \u2014 all go to seed? We dig into the park’s conflicting but always fascinating histories, even sitting down with the facility’s current owner to get his idea of how long\u00a0Yongma Land has lasted this way, and can last this way, in a development-obsessed city like Seoul.<\/p>\n