AFP: 'Streetwise' South Korea drops Japanese legacy
After decades of confusion, South Korea has ditched its traditional address system and adopted one based on named streets and consecutively-numbered buildings. But many residents are less than happy, saying a cultural legacy has been abandoned in the name of logic. From July 29 all the country's 5.68 million houses, apartments and other buildings were given new legal addresses -- meaning they replace old addresses in official documents such as IDs, property registration forms and contracts. Traditional addresses, in use since 1910, identify specific land lots. The address of a typical Seoul house is: Seoul City, a gu (ward), a dong (neighbourhood), and the number of the lot on which it stands. In many cases the lot number was assigned in the order in which buildings were erected, not in street order. The system -- adopted during the Japanese colonial occupation -- has proved a boon to makers of satellite navigation systems but mystifying for many others. Invitations to social or business events routinely include a map...more...