Mount Bukak’s Final Restricted Trail to Open After Nearly 60 Years
A 1.32-kilometer trail near Cheong Wa Dae will open around the clock on Saturday, completing the phased public opening of Mount Bukak’s three major previously restricted routes.
SEOUL — The last major restricted trail on Mount Bukak near Cheong Wa Dae will open to the public this weekend, ending nearly six decades in which the route remained off-limits for security reasons.
The Presidential Security Service said the 1.32-kilometer trail in the southwestern part of the mountain will become accessible around the clock starting Saturday. The route lies behind Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office complex in central Seoul.
Its opening completes a phased effort to restore public access to three major sections of Mount Bukak that had been closed. A 2.2-kilometer northern trail was opened in 2020, while a 3-kilometer route in the southeastern section followed in 2022. With the southwestern segment joining them, the mountain will be fully open to the public, according to Presidential Security Service chief Hwang In-kwon.
The change is notable because Mount Bukak occupies a distinctive place in Seoul’s landscape and civic life. Rising directly behind the presidential compound, the mountain has long combined a natural recreation area with the security demands surrounding one of the country’s most sensitive government sites. The final trail’s reopening therefore represents both expanded public access and the completion of a gradual adjustment to restrictions maintained for decades.
The new route is shorter than the two sections opened earlier, but its location makes it the final link in the broader reopening process. Round-the-clock access will also give walkers greater flexibility than a limited daytime schedule would allow. Officials did not announce separate reservation requirements or restricted hours for the trail.
For residents and visitors, the opening adds another path through the mountain area immediately north of central Seoul. It also brings the southwestern slope into the same publicly accessible network as the northern and southeastern routes.
The decision closes the remaining gap in a process that began six years earlier with the northern trail. The 2020 and 2022 openings had already returned five kilometers of previously restricted routes to public use. Saturday’s addition will raise the combined length of the three reopened sections to 6.52 kilometers.
The security service described the southwestern trail as the last of Mount Bukak’s three major routes that had remained inaccessible. Once it opens, officials say no comparable section of the mountain will remain closed under the longstanding restrictions linked to Cheong Wa Dae.