KOREA FOUNDATION

If you walk uphill along Usadan-gil in Hannam-dong, a neighborhood in Itaewon, Yongsan District, you will find an impressive arabesque-style mosque featuring a dome and traditional Islamic patterns. This is the Seoul Central Mosque, the first and largest place of worship for Muslims in Korea. Built in its present site in 1970, it also is the foundation of the Muslim faith in the nation. The plot of land was provided by the Korean government and its construction costs were covered by funds from Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries.

Islam is known to have been brought into Korea by Muslim Turks who took refuge on the peninsula in the 1920s. Today, as migrant workers from Islamic countries continue to settle in Korea, the number of Muslims visiting the Seoul Central Mosque has been steadily increasing.

Established to introduce Islamic culture to Korea and provide worship services, the mosque has offices, classrooms, and a reception room on its first floor. A prayer hall for men is on the second floor, and another one for women on the third. The attached three-story Islamic Center features stores on the first floor and the Prince Sultan Islamic School and the Korean Muslim Federation on the second and third, respectively.

Along the road from the mosque to the Itaewon subway station are restaurants that serve food from Islamic cultures such as Turkish and Egyptian cuisine. The majority are halal restaurants frequented by foreign tourists and Koreans alike amid growing interest in halal food.

Written by Lee Haeng-rim
Illustrated by EEWHA

ItaewonSeoul Central MosqueIslamic cultureMuslim