From 1978 to 1993, the currently developed area of the Digital Media City was in fact a massive
landfill for
Seoul's garbage on an island (at the time called
Nanjido, now annexed into the mainland) in the
Han River, before transforming into a high-tech modern city in the 21st century. This dramatic turn-around is considered to be the result of the
Miracle on the Han River, a term coined to describe Seoul's highly accelerated and successful development since the early 1960s. Used
charcoal briquettes and other industrial waste materials produced during the city's rapid development in this period led to pile ups of trash. By the 1990s, these pile ups grew to mountains at a height of and length of , even after being compressed into a rectangular shape that weighed over . This was in comparison to
Namsan, a natural mountain in
Downtown Seoul, which is . Nanjido's accumulation of garbage increased to 3,000 truck loads of waste per day, essentially creating a pyramid 34 times larger than the
Great Pyramid of Giza in
Egypt. In 1996, Seoul began to launch stabilization projects to withhold further industrial developments and build facilities to prevent the environmental contamination caused by the landfill zone. The stabilization projects included reinforcing the inclines of the landfill that were on the verge of collapsing, minimizing the sludge from the trash and collecting harmful gases. The gas accumulated in the process was utilized as the heat energy necessary for heating nearby facilities of the
Seoul World Cup Stadium and the
Sangam housing development area. The re-engineered region was first designated a
housing development zone in March 1997. A "New Seoul Town Development" project was announced when
Goh Kun became the
mayor of Seoul in July 1998. In August of the same year, the general planning for New Seoul Town project began to take form. Based on this, a master plan was established for the Millennium City (Sangam New Millennium Town). Along with drawing up a city plan to turn the Sangam region into a secondary center of Seoul, a subsequent plan was drafted to build a gateway town that embodies both
information and
ecology. The plan has since been carried out in concrete, and encompasses separate projects such as the
World Cup Park, an environmentally friendly housing complex and the Digital Media City. The Digital Media City is part of the larger Millennium City project in the Sangam-dong district of Seoul, 4 miles (7 km) from the central business district. Millennium City, conceived as a new town center, also encompasses the World Cup Soccer Park, a major transportation hub, and the restored Nanji-do landfill. The project's initial funding from the Seoul Metropolitan Government is being used to leverage the involvement of private technology partners and developers. The project was planned by the metropolitan government with the assistance of the Seoul Development Institute (SDI), a public think tank established by the City of Seoul, and is being implemented by the development arm of the City government. The Seoul Metropolitan Government provided the IT broadband and wireless networks that serve the area, constructed the infrastructure, and provided tax incentives and favorably-priced land for the most desirable tenants. These "magnet" tenants will attract other firms to the area, because of their business relationships or because their presence brands the area as a prestige location. The Korean national government has located several key IT and cultural agencies within the Digital Media City. ==Notable landmarks and buildings==