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After the military coup of 1961, the military government stimulated industrialization in order to catalyze the rapid economic development of South Korea. In this context a careful management of urbanization was considered as a condition, sine qua non. In its modernization zeal, the junta also propagated the idea of ‘Life Revolution’. Because modern shopping centres were considered to be an important element of modern life, the fast and large-scale development of a modern retail sector offered legitimization to the junta. The military government therefore introduced several modern shopping centres in the inner city of Seoul. The military government promoted the construction and operation through institutional support, and financial investments came from the private construction companies and unions of merchants. The Sewoon Complex was one of the main pilot projects on a site earlier cleared by the Japanese colonial government as fire corridor but subsequently flooded by squatters after the Korean War in 1953. The slums were erased and banned from the collective memory by a brand new and modern iconic building complex that supplied parking, commercial functions and housing. The planned complex, which was integrated into the existing street system, included a 1 km pedestrian sky mall, mixed-use development with public functions, the segregation of pedestrians from vehicles, ground-level parking, a roof garden, and an atrium. The mega-complex that ultimately connected eight massive buildings in a continuous chain was finalized in 1968. The Sewoon Complex became instantly the icon of the ‘life revolution’, an emblem of modernity that provided a giant surface for urban shopping, right in the center of the inner city. Although public interest in the Sewoon Complex was rather low during the rebuilding of Seoul, it has exerted a strong influence on the capital city’s centre. The following paper will focus on the introduction of the modern ideas underlying the modern shopping centre and the way it made a new relation with the inner city.