By Kim Hayeon

The American magazine Time has named Seoul one of the world's 50 best cities to visit this year.

The magazine on July 12 released its "World Greatest Places of 2022" list based on surveys of its international network of correspondents and contributors.

Calling Seoul "one of the world’s leading smart cities," Time said the capital is the world's first city to integrate with the metaverse, where virtual reality (VR) converges with the real world.

It also said the Seoul Metropolitan Government is aiming to develop within this year the program "Metaverse Seoul," including a "virtual tourist zone" to allow people with VR headsets to view the city’s top tourist attractions such as Deoksugung Palace, Gwanghwamun Plaza and Namdaemun Market.

"Any visitor will see the city’s technological features right away," the article said, mentioning self-driving shuttle buses, automated immigration processing and disinfecting robots at Incheon International Airport. 

Praising the city's public ­transportation system as a "global leader in innovation," the magazine described the installation of devices to improve air quality in passenger cars, free chargers for mobile ­phones and unlimited Wi-Fi.

Other Asian locales on the Time list were Kerala and Ahmadabad in India, Setouchi and Kyushu in Japan, Bali in Indonesia, and Boracay Island in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg on July 13 said Korea placed 11th out of 66 countries in a survey of the best countries for remote work by cybersecurity solutions provider NordLayer.

Korea was second in Asia only to Singapore, which ranked ninth.

The report said in digital accessibility, Korea has the fastest internet.

Germany was first on the list, followed by runner-up Denmark and the U.S. in third place.

hayeounk8@korea.kr