Step out of Itaewon Station Exit 3 and start climbing the hill. Somewhere along the way — you’ll feel it before you can quite name it — the sound of the street shifts. The club signs and burger joints recede behind you. Signage in Arabic and Urdu begins to appear, one shop at a time. A butcher’s window bears a green halal sticker. And then, at the top of the hill, a blue dome rises against the sky.
Seoul Central Mosque. Opened in 1976, it’s the first and largest Islamic mosque in Korea. Plenty of people know there’s a building like this in the middle of Seoul. Surprisingly few have actually stepped inside — mostly because they’re not sure if they’re allowed to. The short answer: you are.
The short answer
- Location — About 500 meters uphill from Itaewon Station Exit 3 (Line 6), a 10-minute walk. The address is technically Hannam-dong, not Itaewon-dong.
- Entry — Free · non-Muslims welcome · no reservation needed. But no shorts, sleeveless tops, or short skirts. Alcohol, pork products, and pets are prohibited.
- What to see — The dome that changed from white to blue in January 2025, the newly painted ceiling calligraphy in the prayer hall by Turkish artisans, and the view toward the Han River from the hilltop.
- Context — Korea is home to 250,000–300,000 Muslims, including about 60,000 Korean converts. This building is their community headquarters.
Why is this mosque on a hill in Itaewon, of all places?
Oil. To be precise, the Middle East construction boom of the 1970s and the oil shock that came with it.
In the early 1970s, Korean construction firms were pouring into job sites across Saudi Arabia and Libya. For the government, ties with Middle Eastern nations meant foreign currency and energy security — and they needed something to signal that relationship in concrete terms. The answer: “Let’s build a proper mosque in Seoul.” The government provided the land. Much of the construction cost was covered by Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries.
Ground broke in October 1974. The mosque opened on May 21, 1976. Seventeen countries — including Saudi Arabia, Libya, and Kuwait — sent delegations to the opening ceremony. It looked less like the dedication of a house of worship and more like a diplomatic summit.
Muslims were here long before the mosque
Islam in Korea traces its roots to the Korean War. The Turkish brigade deployed as part of the UN forces brought imams with them, and during and after the war, they introduced Islam to Koreans. In September 1955, about 70 believers gathered in the Dongdaemun area of Seoul to form the Korea Muslim Federation — the official starting point. Its first president was Umar Kim Jin-gyu. For more than two decades before the mosque was built, they shuffled between makeshift prayer spaces across the city. When the mosque finally opened its doors, there were fewer than 3,000 Muslims in the entire country.
Can I go inside? What should I watch out for?
Yes, you can. No entrance fee. No mandatory reservation. Just remember: this isn’t a tourist attraction. It’s a working religious facility where prayers happen five times a day. The Korea Muslim Federation posts guidelines near the main gate. Here’s what they say, translated into practical terms.
🕌 Seoul Central Mosque — visitor guidelines (based on posted notices)
| Rule | Official policy | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Admission | Free | There’s a donation box, but nobody will pressure you |
| Dress code | No shorts, sleeveless tops, ripped jeans, short skirts, or low-cut tops | Easy to slip up in summer. Bring a light pair of long pants and a long-sleeve shirt |
| Women’s head covering | Required when entering the prayer hall | Loaner scarves and robes are available in the changing area next to the security office |
| Prohibited items | Alcohol, food containing pork, pets | Yes, that sausage bun in your convenience store bag counts |
| Prayer hall | You may look around, but the inner sanctuary requires prior permission | Before 2010, you could walk right up to the mihrab. These days, you’ll need to arrange it |
| Photography | Exterior and courtyard: fine. Photographing people during prayer: not fine | Disrupting worship can carry legal consequences |
| Shoes | Remove them at the prayer hall entrance | Shoe racks are provided. Wear socks — it’s more comfortable |
What actually trips people up on their first visit
- Summer shorts. If you walk up dressed for a day out in Itaewon, you'll be borrowing a robe at the gate. They do lend them out, but if you're planning ahead, just dress accordingly.
- Showing up during prayer. When salah begins, the prayer hall belongs to the worshippers. Wait in the courtyard or outside, then look around once it's over. Easier for everyone.
- The hill. It's gentle, but it's also 500 meters of steady incline. On a summer afternoon, it's more taxing than it looks. Aim for morning or around sunset.
- It's okay to ask. The staff in the courtyard are generally happy to answer questions. As long as you're not being rude, they'll welcome the curiosity.
When should I go?
Muslims pray five times a day. The exact times shift slightly each day with the sunrise and sunset, so the mosque posts a monthly prayer timetable. Check the Korea Muslim Federation’s website or Instagram before you visit — it’s the most reliable way.
🕐 The five daily prayers — what they mean for your visit
| Prayer | Timing | From a visitor’s perspective |
|---|---|---|
| Fajr | Dawn, before sunrise | The quietest time. Not really a visiting window |
| Zuhr | Just past noon | On weekdays, over quickly |
| Asr | Late afternoon | The time slot most tourists overlap with |
| Maghrib | Just after sunset | The dome lights come on — best photos of the day |
| Isha | Night | Quiet and still |
What happens if you visit during Ramadan
During Ramadan, the meal that breaks the fast at sunset is called iftar. Seoul Central Mosque serves free iftar every evening throughout the month. It starts with dates, bananas, and milk to gently break the fast, followed by a full dinner served on trays. You line up, take what you need — nobody asks whether you're Muslim. The program was suspended during COVID-19 and resumed at full scale from 2023. Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, so it moves forward by about ten days each year.
What's inside and around the building?
The mosque isn’t just the three-story building. On this tight hillside plot, prayer spaces, offices, a school, a café, and a butcher’s shop sit packed together — it functions almost like a tiny village.
A small detail I love
The Arabic inscription above the main gate used to be accompanied by a Korean translation: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger." When the entrance was redesigned in 2025, the Korean text was removed — only the Arabic original remains. If you see Korean lettering in photos online, you're looking at a pre-renovation image. There's a quiet pleasure in dating mosque photos by this one detail.
What kind of neighborhood is Usadan-ro?
The streets spilling downhill from the mosque — the Usadan-ro area — have been home to roughly 1,800 Muslim residents from Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and beyond. The neighborhood didn’t take its current shape in 1976, when the mosque opened. It happened in the 1990s. In the late 1980s, workers from Southeast Asia and West Asia began arriving in growing numbers. By the early 1990s, a small shop selling groceries they recognized had opened near the mosque. That was the seed. The sequence went: mosque first, then people, then commerce.
This neighborhood is changing right now
The hill the mosque sits on borders the Hannam New Town redevelopment zone. Through 2025, residents in the surrounding housing blocks have been relocating, leaving behind a growing number of empty homes. The streetscape has visibly shifted in just a few years. If the Usadan-ro you find online doesn't match what you see in person, that's why. Don't trust old blog posts blindly — check whether individual shops are still open before you go.
Where to eat? There are kebab and curry houses in the alley below the mosque, but these days, Seoul’s halal dining scene is expanding faster outside Itaewon than inside it. You’ll find options scattered across Samseong/COEX, Jongno, Dongdaemun, Hongdae, and Gongdeok — some of them now draw more Korean customers than Muslim ones. We’ve covered restaurants in a separate guide, so check that for recommendations.
Who are Korea's Muslims?
This is where the story on this hill gets least told.
The Muslim population in Korea is estimated at 250,000 to 300,000. As of late July 2024, foreign nationals from Muslim-majority countries numbered roughly 320,000 — about 11% of all foreign residents in the country. But that figure includes people who don’t actively practice the faith, so the actual number of observant Muslims is likely lower.
Korean converts to Islam — often called “indigenous Muslims” in local media — numbered roughly 60,000 as of 2021. Even that figure deserves a careful read. Imam Lee Ju-hwa of Seoul Central Mosque has spoken candidly about how the first generation of Korean converts struggled to pass the faith to their children, and that the number of practicing believers may actually be declining. The number on the register and the number in the pews are not the same thing.
The imam became Korean in 2010
The current imam of Seoul Central Mosque is Lee Ju-hwa (Abdur Rahman). Born in Seoul in 1963, he grew up in a non-religious household and became Muslim in 1984 after being selected as a Saudi royal scholarship student. He studied at the Islamic University of Madinah and was appointed imam of this mosque in June 2010 — the first Korean ever to hold the position. He delivers the Friday sermon in three languages: Arabic, Korean, and English. The fact that he needs all three tells you exactly who gathers here.
The fastest-growing group: international students
In recent years, the demographic reshaping Korea’s Muslim population hasn’t been laborers — it’s been university students. The universities have followed suit. Hanyang University was the first to open a halal restaurant, back in 2013. Sejong, Ewha, and Kyung Hee later added halal menus. Seoul National University began serving halal options in its student cafeteria in 2018; before the dorms had proper prayer facilities, students used to pray on the rooftop of the student union building. Hanyang and Korea University have since set up multicultural prayer rooms in their engineering buildings, where international student populations are concentrated.
Not every reaction has been welcoming
Community tensions around Islamic facilities have flared up more than once in Korea. During the 2007 hostage crisis in Afghanistan, protests were held in front of Seoul Central Mosque, threats were made, and police were deployed. Some see the installation of prayer rooms as religious favoritism. Others frame it as a matter of religious freedom and tourism infrastructure. This article doesn't take sides. But it's worth knowing, before you go, that this hill hasn't always been a peaceful place.
Is this the only place to pray in Seoul?
For Muslim travelers, this is the question that matters most. In the Seoul metropolitan area, there’s really only one proper, purpose-built mosque — Seoul Central Mosque. But there are more places to pray than you might think.
🧭 Places to pray in Seoul and the capital region (confirm operating status before visiting)
| Location | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul Central Mosque | Full mosque · KMF headquarters | 39 Usadan-ro 10-gil, Yongsan-gu. Separate prayer halls for men and women |
| Al-Tawheed Mosque (Dapsimni) | Small mosque | Located in a regular building. Smaller than the Central Mosque |
| Incheon International Airport prayer room | 24-hour facility | Quran, prayer mats, and qibla direction markings provided |
| COEX (Samseong) | Muslim prayer room | For visitors to the Gangnam MICE tourism zone |
| Lotte World (Jamsil) | Muslim prayer room | Closes at night — limited hours |
| University campuses | Multicultural prayer rooms | Hanyang, Korea, Seoul National, and others. Generally for enrolled students |
| Major general hospitals | Interfaith chapels | Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, and others have multi-faith prayer spaces |
What you should know about halal dining
- Restaurants with official halal certification in Korea number fewer than twenty, nationwide. Most "halal" signs you see are self-declared, not certified.
- The Korea Tourism Organization ran a Muslim-friendly restaurant classification program, but it was discontinued in 2022 due to low participation. As a result, there is no single official list.
- If your standards are strict, ask to see the certification at the counter, and check whether they serve alcohol — it's the most reliable litmus test.
- There are solid options beyond Itaewon: Samseong/COEX, Jongno, Dongdaemun, Hongdae, and Gongdeok all have halal-friendly spots scattered across them.
How do I plan a half-day route?
A half-day Itaewon itinerary
- Morning — Itaewon Station Exit 3 → Usadan-ro hill → Seoul Central Mosque. The dome photographs best when the sun is low.
- Lunch — Kebab or curry in the alley below the mosque, or around Itaewon Station. Friday lunchtime is packed.
- Afternoon — Walk to the Leeum Museum of Art (Hannam-dong), or head the other way toward Gyeongnidan-gil and Haebangchon. All within walking distance.
- Evening — Head up toward Namsan for the night view. From the mosque to N Seoul Tower is under 10 minutes by taxi.
- On the way back — Catch the neighborhood bus Yongsan 01 right in front of the mosque. It'll save you the downhill walk to the station.
The reason to come up this hill is simple, really. Seoul doesn’t have many places where such different time signatures overlap inside a single alley. Down below, club lines form on Saturday nights. Up above, 800 people remove their shoes on Friday afternoons. Walk the 500 meters between them, and you feel it in your feet — how many layers this city is made of, how many worlds it holds at once.
Sources
- Korea Muslim Federation (KMF) — mosque visitor guidelines, national mosque directory
- Namuwiki and Wikipedia entries for Seoul Central Mosque — construction history, 2024–2025 dome and entrance renovations
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture — Korea Muslim Federation entry (founding in 1955)
- Ministry of Justice foreign resident statistics and domestic Muslim migrant population estimates (as of late July 2024)
- SBS Korean — "60,000 Indigenous Korean Muslims" (2021 convert figures)
- Herald Gyeongje — "Itaewon Muslim Town" feature (Usadan-ro resident population and commercial history)
- Seoul Shinmun — "The era of 10,000 Muslim students" (university prayer rooms and halal dining adoption)
- Hankyung — Korea Tourism Organization Muslim-friendly restaurant classification program discontinued (2022)
- All figures and operating information are based on research as of August 2026 and have not yet been verified on site.