Songtan Entertainment District

Songtan Entertainment District (SED) is an area in the Shinjang-dong neighborhood of Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The Songtan Entertainment District is an area consisting of shopping, dining, residential, clubs, bars and coffee shops surrounding the main gate of the United States Air Base, Osan. The SED is best known for its party scene; the area hosts the most clubs in the city of Pyeongtaek.

History

Before 2013, the Songtan Entertainment District was known as a seedy area full of prostitution. Because of the type of business that occurred in this area, many of the bars and clubs were off limits to the United States service members who frequented it.

Osan Air Base

Osan Air Base was established in November 1951 as Osan-Ni AB; it was the only village shown on most military maps at the time and it was easy to pronounce. The base was built on the rice paddies south of Suwon, becoming the main hub for more than 20 U.S. Air Force activities on the Korean peninsula. Osan Air Base was slowly remodeled over time, with a large renovation that took place in the early 2000s up to 2011. Now the Base and the surrounding areas are growing at a rapid pace, with the SED taking on the job of housing a majority of the U.S. military members stationed there and their families.

Sinjang-dong Shopping Mall

Sinjang-dong Shopping Mall is what most people think of when they are imagining the Songtan Entertainment District. The shopping mall is a large pedestrian shopping area with multiple streets and alleyways lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, bars, coffee shops and many street vendors. The shops range from small, individually owned shops to franchises like McDonald's, Baskin Robbins, and recently, Bun-D. This shopping center is very diverse for the area, with many foreign customers, so many of the workers speak English and some shops accept US dollars. There is also a large real estate market in this shopping center, with an array of real estate businesses that help most of the U.S. military members who work on Osan AB find housing off of the air base. The Sinjang-dong mall has been receiving renovations and will continue to be completely renovated in the upcoming years due to Samsung investing in improvements of the area.

4/9 Market

The 4/9 market is a wet market located near the SED that is open on any day that ends with a "4" or a "9" in the month. This outdoor market has plenty of goods like fresh seafood, fruit, vegetables, clothing, kitchen goods, and housing goods.

PIEF

PIEF is Pyeongtaek International Exchange Foundation; there is a branch located directly off of the SED. This international community center services foreigners and locals, providing many different classes and events. Locals can go to PIEF to meet Americans and learn English, while Americans can go to the center to volunteer to teach English, learn Korean and attend events which integrate the different cultures.

References

G4mob.com. (n.d.). PIEF. Retrieved May 04, 2021, from http://www.pief.or.kr/m/en/intro/intro_list03_002.php

Osan air BASE HISTORY. (2007, April 09). Retrieved May 04, 2021, from https://www.osan.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/404707/osan-air-base-history/

Southofseoul. (2021, March 26). Neighborhood intro: Shinjang-dong (part of Songtan). Retrieved May 04, 2021, from https://blog.southofseoul.net/index.php/2018/08/31/neighborhood-intro-songtan/