Seoul’s Itaewon to create Quy Nhon theme street

A street under the theme of Quy Nhon City in Vietnam is set to open in Seoul. Seoul’s Yongsan ward office said on Wednesday it will create Quy Nhon theme street in Itaewon to mark the 20th anniversary of its sisterhood relationship with the Vietnamese city.

Quy Nhon is the place where Korea’s Maengho (Courageous Tiger) military unit was stationed during the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1972. After being launched in Yongsan, the unit had achieved countless victories in combats in Vietnam, but left scars, including a massacre of civilians during its operation. Even a stone monument of atrocities committed by Korean soldiers was erected in the city.

The Yongsan ward office visited Quy Nhon in 1996 and signed a sisterhood agreement, and has been gradually improving its relations with the city. Since then, the ward has provided computers and a cataract treatment center in the Vietnamese city, and conducted projects to benefit local residents, including support of overseas studies in Korea for talented students, and scholarships for students from low-income families, and construction of housing for the underprivileged over the past 19 years. As a result, the infamous stone monument is now effectively called "stone memorial for paying respect to victims," as scars from the war are being healed.

Quy Nhon Street will be established at Bogwang-ro 59-gil in Itaewon. A "Quy Nhon Garden" will be constructed at a small lot near the street, and a graffiti wall to be designed jointly by Yongsan and Quy Nhon will be erected. The creation of the graffiti wall will be supported by the Vietnamese student council at Sookmyung Women’s University, multicultural families, and resident volunteers. The Yongsan ward office will adopt the Vietnamese language as a major language for Quy Nhon Street, and provide Vietnamese translations in promotional materials.

"With these and other efforts, I hope that historical scars between Korea and Vietnam will be healed sooner rather than later,” said Yongsan Ward Gov. Sung Jang-hyun.