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Seongjeosimni (, or sometimes romanized as Seongjeo Shibri) was the peripheral area of Joseon's capital city, (), literally meaning areas 10 Ri (Korean mile) around the Fortress Wall of Seoul. Though this area was outside of the Fortress Wall, clearly it was a suburb area within city limits of the Hanseongbu. While it was mainly a residential area, some of its components took important role in Joseon's governmental functions, including diplomacy and defense.
In early period of Joseon, one of the Seongjeosimni's main function was tree farm to provide wooden materials for the national government. To achieve this policy, new settlements and deforestation were strictly prohibited in Seongjeosimni. Instead, government-led granaries to store tax paid by grains, diplomatic missions and military post for defense of the capital city filled this sparsely populated area. As there was not a notifiable group of population, national government of Joseon in early period did not have much attention on local governance of the Seongjeosimni. So, although residents in the Seongjeosimni were clearly under jurisdiction of the Hanseong, sometimes, the national government overlooked other authorities governing the adjacent local regions outside of Hanseong city to mobilize the residents in Seongjeosimni.
However, as Hanseong city's Downtown Seoul became overly crowded in the late 15th century, the national government tried to redevelop the Seongjeosimni as residential area. This new approach was also supported by growth of agriculture and commerce in Joseon's middle period, resulting prosperity of the Seongjeosimni as suburb of the Hanseong city's downtown area in late period of the Joseon dynasty. For example, in the reign of the King Sejong, number of households in Seongjeosimni was 1,779 while households inside the Fortress wall was 17,015. Then in year 1789 when was reign of the King Jeongjo number of former expanded to 21,835 while the latter hit only 22,094. This huge economic and social growth of Seongjeosimni had drawn interest of national government around the late 18th century. So from 1751 to 1788, national government of Joseon realigned administrative divisions of Hanseong, to clarify that local governance of Seongjeosimni belongs strictly to the Hanseong city.
The most prosperous region among the Seongjeosimni in late Joseon period was a place called Seogyo (), corresponding to contemporary Jongno District's Gyonam-dong, Muak-dong and Seodaemun District's Cheonyeon-dong and Hyeonjeo-dong. It was primarily designed as place for Joseon's international relations, since Seogyo was essential node along the passage connecting capital city of China and Korea. For example, at the heart of this place, a famous building named Mohwagwan () and its symbolic gate Yeongeunmun existed. It was mainly a state guest house for welcoming the chinese diplomats, but also was an event hall for various important state ceremonies. Another important facility was (), a government agency for local governance of and defense of the capital city, Hanseong. These facilities later encouraged Seogyo region's international and commercial development.
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