The main reason I come to Gyeongju, 370km from Seoul, is its cultural heritage. The place is like Athen is for Greece and Rome is for Italy. It is the capital of the Silla Kingdom, founded before the birth of Prophet Isa, and lasted for a thousand years. There were then two other ancient Korean kingdoms, which Silla conquered in 676 AD, thus unifying the Korean peninsula.
The Koreans claim it was they who exported culture and technology to Japan. But they were influenced by the Chinese who regarded the Korean peninsula as part of China too. Which is still apparent in modern day politics (there's a mural I saw at Tian'anmen Square which showed Koreans as Chinese). The Koreans must be very cunning people to be able to handle two aggressive neighbours - China and Japan.
The town is littered with small rounded 'hills' which are actually tombs of the Silla royals. A large patch of the town containing the historical sites has been entered into the Unesco World Heritage List (http://whc.unesco.org/), and is a major tourist attraction.
