With 20% of South Korea’s population, a sophisticated, health-conscious, consumer market and local government investment of KRW 1.833 trillion (1,140 million euro) into public transport infrastructure, Seoul city should seem a logical location for a bicycle exhibition.

But in spite of this peninsula nation sitting comfortably within the top 20 global economies and enjoying the same per-capita GDP as Italy, cycling has failed to capture broad-scale public imagination. In some respects, this is understandable. Any new visitor to Seoul will immediately notice two things after leaving one of the city’s two airports: cars and more cars. There would be few places in the world that appear as unappealing to ride safely on a bicycle.

However, change is underway. 1,200 km of new cycling paths, spreading from Incheon in the northwest (one hour drive from Seoul downtown) to Busan in the southeast, are in development under a government-funded initiative to enthuse more of South Korea’s nearly 50 million citizens into healthier lifestyles.

[Via] Bike Europe