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The Myeong-Dong district is at the heart of the original Seoul downtown
(north of the Han river): it's a very famous spot amongst young people to
go shopping or just going out with friends. The streets get immensely
busy on saturday and sunday afternoons, making it hard to walk at a normal
pace. But that's what makes the area so much fun: it's alive!
Myeongdong is also the area in Korea with the most expensive floor space
at 100 million wons per pyeong (about 30,000$US per square meter). This makes it the 8th most expensive floor rent worldwide. There's rumours
that in the 60s and 70s, the North Korean
government used pics of Myeongdong to show the impact that capitalism
made on their friends south of the border.
Here is the rent in US$ per year
per square meter of the most expensive shopping streets/districts in the world:
| | City | | Street/District | | 2005 $/m2 | | 2004 $/m2 |
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| 1. | | New York | | Fifth Avenue | | 13,993 | | 10,226 (1) |
| 2. | | Hong Kong | | Causeway Bay | | 11,653 | | 6,126 (3) |
| 3. | | Paris | | Avenue des Champs Elysées | | 8,024 | | 7,648 (2) |
| 4. | | London | | New Bond Street | | 6,753 | | 5,564 (4) |
| 5. | | Tokyo | | Ginza | | 5,578 | | 3,348 (9) |
| 6. | | Dublin | | Grafton Street | | 4,423 | | 4,103 (5) |
| 7. | | Sydney | | Pitt Street Mall | | 3,807 | | 3,449 (8) |
| 8. | | Seoul | | Myeongdong | | 3,764 | | 3,241 (10) |
| 9. | | Munich | | Kaufingerstrasse | | 3,632 | | 3,577 (6) |
| 10. | | Zurich | | Bahnhofstrasse | | 3,513 | | 2,395 (13) |
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