A video showcasing a mesmerizing new library complex in South Korea has gone viral on TikTok.
The clip was shared by @korea_insight and has had more than 274,000 views since it was posted two days ago.
The video shows the striking interior of a sprawling library at the newly opened Starfield shopping mall in the city of Suwon, the capital of Gyeonggi-do, the country's most populous province, in the northwest region of South Korea.
The Starfield mall in Suwon officially opened its doors today, following a pre-opening event in which the space was revealed to a select group of people on Wednesday, according to Korean media.
The footage in the latest viral clip shows an overview of the library, which features a multi-level seating area and several towering shelves of books, outlined by soft lighting. Its central area is overlooked by floating planet-style spheres suspended from the ceiling.
@korea_insight Another Starfield Library in Suwon #fy #fypシ #fyp #traveltiktok #library #suwon #korea #seoul #별마당도서관 #starfield #interior #newplace #librarytiktok
♬ La foule - Remastered - Édith Piaf
The latest post comes as South Korea aims to attract 30 million foreign tourists by 2027. After South Korea's tourism sector suffered a dramatic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced this month that it will invest about $1 billion in tourism in 2024.
The country launched the Visit Korea Year 2023-2024 campaign, which featured various cultural offerings in the past year, with more to come in 2024.
Suwon's giant 3.5 million-square-foot Starfield mall is composed of eight underground levels and eight above ground levels. Its library is spread across the mall's fourth to seventh floors, with bookshelves rising about 72 feet high and containing more than 36,000 books. The modern and chic new mall aims to attract a younger crowd in their 20s and 30s, according to Korean media.
The latest venue is a follow-up to the equally mesmerizing Starfield Library in the heart of the COEX Mall in Seoul, the South Korean capital. The Seoul edition, which houses bookshelves about 42 feet high in a 30,140-square-foot atrium, has been featured in several K-dramas, such as the Netflix hit Record of Youth.
'I Just Wanna Live There'
Users on TikTok were blown away by the look of the Starfield Library in Suwon shown in the latest viral clip.
User @astteriaa wrote: "this is so cool!"
User @melissagadoe asked: "Is this like a real library or like a book shop?"
User @damianogre wrote: "that's a library and not a book store?"
User @@itsgracechin said: "Library is so pretty."
Mamak MaGer noted: "Wooowww, amazing library!"
Lise said: "I just wanna live there."
Alos 66 said: "Wow I love books I can live here."
User @hyeops.bestie noted: "there's no chance that I would ever leave this place."
Newsweek has reached out to the original poster via TikTok for comment. This video has not been independently verified.
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About the writer
Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel and health.
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