Namsan Seoul Tower, Television tower in Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea
Namsan Seoul Tower is a television tower in the Yongsan District of Seoul, built on top of Namsan Mountain and reaching a height of just under 237 meters. Because the mountain itself rises to around 243 meters above sea level, the structure's tip sits at roughly 480 meters, making it visible from most parts of the city.
The tower was built in 1969 to serve as a broadcast facility, sending television and radio signals across Seoul and the surrounding region. Over the following decades, it gradually opened to the public and became recognized as a Seoul Future Heritage site.
The tower appears regularly in Korean films, dramas, and music videos, making it recognizable far beyond Seoul. Visitors today can see the fences covered in padlocks left by couples, each one inscribed with names or short messages.
The tower can be reached by cable car, shuttle bus, or on foot along the trails that wind through Namsan Park. Weekends and clear weather days draw larger crowds, so visiting on a weekday or arriving early in the morning tends to be less busy.
The tower changes its lighting color at night to indicate air quality: blue means clean air, green is acceptable, yellow is poor, and red signals bad conditions. This turns the structure into a live display that locals and visitors can read from across the city.
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