Before climbing Choryang’s stairs, you should know why they exist. The answer lies in 1950.
A capital of 1,023 days
When the Korean War broke out and Seoul fell, the government moved to Busan. Across two periods, Busan served as the Republic’s provisional capital — the refugee capital — for a total of 1,023 days Fact. As the front was pushed to the Nakdong River, refugees from across the country converged on the city, and its population swelled beyond anything it could hold Fact.
Where the flats ended, the stairs began
The flats were already full. Refugees with nowhere to go climbed the hillsides and built shacks, and through cycles of demolition and rebuilding those slopes became today’s hillside districts Fact. The roads cut along the mid-slopes to link the villages are the sanbok-doro Fact. Choryang’s 168 Stairs (Ep. 3) were the daily line between homes on the hill and dock work below — the refugee commute itself Fact.
Memory becoming heritage
This refugee geography is now on the road to UNESCO listing as “Sites of the Busan Wartime Capital” — Tentative List in December 2022, priority nomination list on 13 November 2025, preliminary assessment filing planned for September 2026 Fact. Seventy-five years from shack memory to World Heritage candidacy — walking Choryang is climbing those seventy-five years, stair by stair.