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Onyang hot-spring district, Asan, Chungcheongnam-do · 📷

The Honeymoon City and Its Residents

Ep. 10 · Who lived beyond the honeymoon photographs?

Onyang prospered as a leading honeymoon spa destination in the 1960s and remained busy in the 1970s. Romantic photographs also record hotel work, transport, markets, and the infrastructure supporting visitors.

The Honeymoon City and Its Residents: Evidence and chronology

The Honeymoon City and Its Residents: People, ownership, and use

New hot springs elsewhere and changing travel patterns weakened Onyang’s privileged position. Vacancies and aging facilities accumulated; the former Jangmi red-light district, which continued until 2019, requires a non-voyeuristic account.

The Honeymoon City and Its Residents: Reading the place on foot

Regeneration concerns safety, livelihoods, women’s rights, memory, and resident participation, not façade painting alone. Verify current programs locally and never photograph residents or attach an old stigma to people present today.

The Honeymoon City and Its Residents: Practical care and local respect

Compare one honeymoon photograph with a present lane without forcing a simple rise-and-fall story. Onyang’s future should be judged by whether residents can remain with dignity as well as by visitor numbers.

Honeymoon photographs show prosperity, but they do not contain every resident's experience. Hotel and entertainment work, the history of the Jangmi district, women's rights, exclusion, rent, ownership, and the fate of old shops belong in the same account. When empty storefronts, new housing, and long-running businesses stand side by side, ask who decides and pays for renovation. Regeneration that improves only a visitor-facing facade leaves the question of whether residents can continue living and working there unresolved.