Six commercial districts have been selected to implement Seoul's core initiative under the ninth popularly elected administration to revitalize the nighttime economy. Starting with these, the city plans to select a total of 28 places by 2028 and provide up to 2 billion won per district.
On the 14th, at the city hall multipurpose hall, the city held the final citizen participation evaluation for the 2026 Seoul Moonlight Night Market project and selected the sites for the Seoul Moonlight Night Market.
The Seoul Moonlight Night Market is a project that implements nighttime economy revitalization in neighborhood commercial districts. It aims to extend business hours, which are concentrated during the day, into the night to increase the stay and spending of residents and tourists, and to connect this to small merchants' sales and the revitalization of neighborhood economies.
In the prior call for proposals, 19 commercial districts from 15 districts participated. Through a first-round document review, the city selected 10 candidate districts.
For the final evaluation to select the sites, five experts and 50 citizen evaluators took part. The experts examined the appropriateness of the business plans, the commitment to implementation, and plans for preventing complaints and managing conflicts, while the citizen panel assessed, based on presentations and Q&A by district, the appeal and potential as nighttime attractions that people would want to visit.
As a result, a total of six places were selected: ◇ Gangnam District Serosu-gil ◇ Gwanak District Sadang Entertainment Moonlight Night Market district ◇ Gwangjin District Konkuk University Taste Street ◇ Dobong District Chang-dong Station shopping street ◇ Dongjak District Sadang 1-dong eatery alley ◇ Jungnang District Sangbong eatery alley.
The city initially planned to select five districts, but evaluators proposed adding more high-performing districts. This was because several districts showed highly developed plans and strong growth potential during the document and on-site evaluations.
Starting with the districts selected this time, the city will expand the Seoul Moonlight Night Market to a total of 25 locations by 2028.
Districts selected as Moonlight Night Markets can receive up to 2 billion won by 2028. Reflecting each district's characteristics and conditions, the city will improve safety facilities such as walkways, streetlights, and CCTV, as well as convenience and sanitation facilities such as restrooms and trash disposal, and will create nighttime scenery that highlights the charm of alleys through refurbishment of aging signs and lighting upgrades.
To ensure safe and systematic night market operations, the city will also establish an institutional foundation. It completed an administrative notice for the Outdoor Business Road Occupancy Guidelines, which will allow outdoor operations while ensuring pedestrian safety and passage rights, and will implement it starting today. In addition, an administrative notice is underway for the local government ordinance on outdoor operations for food service businesses.
Oh Se-hoon, the Seoul mayor, said, "The Moonlight Night Market provides a rich nighttime culture that residents can enjoy with family and friends, and it ensures that tourist spending does not remain only in parts of downtown and hot spots but extends throughout neighborhood commercial districts," adding, "We will expand the Moonlight Night Market across Seoul so that money circulates through the Seoul economy like blood, and residents' nighttime lives and neighborhood economies can flourish together."