Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Daejeon's roots as a small collection of farms are still apparent in the city's name, which lit-
erally means “big rice field.” The rice paddies are still visible on the outskirts of the city, as
are the jade mountains that surround it and the three rivers that divide Daejeon's main dis-
tricts. But since rail links made it a major north-south transportation hub in the 1900s, the
town has become a lot less bucolic. It was named provincial capital soon after, and served
as the new home for some national government agencies in the late 1990s in the struggle to
ease the concentration of bureaucrats in Seoul.
More recently its sizable array of specialized schools and postgraduate degree holders
have earned Daejeon the moniker of South Korea's Silicon Valley. The catalyst was prob-
ably the granddaddy of South Korean scientific exploration, the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology (KAIST), which was basically alone when it set up here more
than 30 years ago. But districts such as Daedeok Innopolis now house dozens of public and
private institutes busily studying everything from robotics to nuclear fusion and wireless
broadband standards, all staffed by some of the country's top minds. This has fostered a
sizable foreign community of more than 14,000, including students, academics, and tech
experts as well as the usual language teachers and family types.
With much of the city a relatively recent creation, Daejeon is orderly and tidy by South
Korean standards, with easily navigable streets, parks, and riverside paths. This applies par-
ticularly to the Dunsan-dong area, which has sprung up just west of the old downtown, and
as it's now home to most new apartments, offices, and even City Hall, has effectively re-
placed it. This neighborhood and nearby Mannyeon-dong are popular with foreign residents
for their convenience and proximity to shopping, dining, and nightlife—most of Daejeon's
top restaurants and retailers are here. Housing is also on the new side and of good standards,
if somewhat high-density. Studios or one-bedroom units in the area's newer complexes of
10-15
pyeong
(33-50 square meters) can be rented for around 400,000 won per month with
a 5-10 million won deposit; family-friendly apartments of about twice that size are in the
700,000-800,000 won range. Smaller apartments can be bought outright for 100 million
won or so, but 200 million won and up is a more reasonable budget for newer, more spa-
cious units. There are fewer villas and detached houses available for rent in this area, and
most tend to be aging or in poor condition; when they are on offer, rents tend to be slightly
lower than apartments.
