03-07-2025
A New Generation Rises in Seoul's Jewelry District
The main shopping streets of Jongno, Seoul's jewelry district, are lined with glass-front shops displaying what's for sale inside: gold bangles, diamond necklaces, pearl earrings, jade rings.
You could be in New York City's diamond district or Hatton Garden in London, except the storefront signage is in Korean characters.
If you look down an alley, there might be a scorched-rice stall, a woman selling cabbages and carrots from a cart, shoppers with designer handbags or an old house with the traditional scallop tile roof that now houses a pastry shop.
And at the end of a main street: the Changdeokgung Palace, a home to Korea's royalty since 1405.
'Jongno is the largest jewelry district in the world,' said Kyung-Ju Nam, the leader of the government-funded Seoul Jewelry Industry Support Center.
She and two other industry experts — Hyunsung Ohn, the director of the privately funded Wolgok Jewelry Industry Research Institute, and Oh Hyo Keun, the chairman of the Korea Precious Metals and Jewelry Association, an industry organization — had gathered in Ms. Nam's office in the jewelry district for an interview.
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