Seoul opens 'Fun Station' fitness park at Munjeong subway station

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Friday opened the Munjeong Exercise Garden — a fitness-focused Fun Station at Munjeong Station — following earlier installations of a Runner Station at Yeouinaru Station and Fun Stations at Ttukseom and Meokgol stations.

The Munjeong Station Fun Station transforms the area around the subway station, previously used only as a passageway, into an exercise space woven into residents' daily routines.

Spread across an L-shaped 18,737-square-meter site near Exit 3, the facility houses four specialized zones: a multipurpose exercise area, an indoor exercise area, a garden-style rest area and a culture-oriented rest area. Each zone is functionally connected to allow visitors to exercise, relax and enjoy cultural activities all in one place.

The multipurpose exercise area and the indoor exercise area anchor the two ends of the L-shaped site, with a garden-style rest area featuring a small forest and seating facilities in between. A running track connecting all four zones lets visitors jog or walk while naturally moving between exercise, rest and cultural activities.

The multipurpose exercise area includes courts for futsal and basketball as well as badminton and pickleball courts, with stretching and warm-up spaces nearby. The indoor exercise area offers table tennis, yoga and line dancing.

The garden-style rest area includes a small forest and seating facilities. Pop-up exhibitions and garden experience programs — including "WE GARDEN" and "Hwabun Doctor" — are planned for the space.

At the center of the Fun Station, a sunken plaza serves as the culture-oriented rest area. On ordinary days it functions as a gathering and relaxation space for residents; during performances, sports events and community events it opens up as a shared cultural venue.

The culture-oriented rest area is also the first site in Seoul to feature a "Connected Live" system, which delivers an unusual cultural experience by letting visitors enjoy performances from outside the venue. A large LED media screen measuring 16 meters wide and 4.8 meters tall was installed for the system, equipped with a high-brightness display that remains clearly visible even in daylight. The screen can broadcast a single feed or be divided into three panels showing separate live streams simultaneously.

Connected Live streams a performance stage in real time to outdoor screens and other locations around the city. A dedicated network linking the Fun Station to Seoul Arena — a K-pop concert venue under construction in Changdong, Dobong-gu, Seoul, set to open in the first half of next year — will be installed at the site.

The Fun Station is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 7:50 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5:50 p.m., with Seoul YMCA handling operations. A trial run last month confirmed that the facility and its operating systems were ready.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attended the opening ceremony on Friday and played pickleball alongside Seoul city promotional ambassador Shim Eutteum. "Starting with the Munjeong Station Fun Station, we will build an 'everyday fitness city Seoul' where people naturally stay active before work, during lunch and after work as part of their daily lives," Oh said.

The Fun Station is a Seoul Metropolitan Government subway innovation project that grafts exercise, cultural and leisure content onto subway stations and their surrounding spaces — areas commuters pass through every day — turning transit corridors into vibrant lifestyle hubs. Launched in 2024 with the Runner Station at Yeouinaru Station, the project introduces tailored content suited to the location and spatial characteristics of each station.

Alongside the Fun Stations, the city has created runner support spaces at Gwanghwamun, Hoehyeon and World Cup Stadium stations. It recently opened a "K-Culture Station" at City Hall Station, expanding the program's content beyond exercise into culture.

Oh, then a candidate, announced "expanding exercise infrastructure" as his top campaign pledge for the June 3 local elections in May this year. The centerpiece of that pledge is to increase the number of Seoul fitness centers from 27 to 100 and to expand the running-focused Fun Stations — currently operating at six subway stations including Yeouinaru and Gwanghwamun — to 25 locations. At the time, Oh said, "I will build a Seoul where the entire city becomes a 'fitness zone' and the city systematically manages residents' health, so people do not have to spend extra money on exercise or health management."