After my family immigrated to Chicago, some of the things my parents missed most about South Korea were the hills and mountains.
They recalled the majesty of Namsan Mountain, whose peak is home to the popular tourist attraction N Seoul Tower. Better known as Namsan Tower, it features an observatory offering panoramic views of the capital city and beyond.
The main characters in television’s so-called K-dramas often demonstrate their love by attaching personalized padlocks on a fence on the tower’s observation deck. Tens of thousands of “love locks” can be found here (www.nseoultower.co.kr/eng).
It’s a trend well-established in cities such as Paris and Prague, but the tradition has taken on an added dimension in Seoul. While couples still attach locks to declare their love for one another, the fence has become a popular spot for adoptees and their adoptive parents to leave padlocks honoring the day they became a family.
“We decided to put a lock at Namsan Tower to commemorate our first trip back to Seoul since adopting our daughter in 2008,” said Kelly Hegarty of Castle Rock, Colo. On their lock, they wrote their last name, the date they visited and the Korean word for “family.”
Padlocks can be purchased on site at a gift shop, but we opted to bring our own. (Besides being less expensive, ours was different from the ubiquitous heart-shaped ones sold in the boutique.)
Our son, Kyle, had just started first grade and hadn’t been back to Korea since we’d adopted him as a baby. He proudly printed his message on the tiny lock and made us take numerous photos of it. He said he wanted to be able to find it the next time we returned.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it most likely wouldn’t be there. A friend had already warned us that her family’s lock had been removed to make room for new locks — and new families.
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