Busan South Coast City of Korea
Busan is Korea's principal port and second largest city. As a port city, it is ranked third in the world in terms of the number of containers handled. It has numerous culturally attractive tourism resources characteristic and distinctive enough not to be found in any other city in the world. Its scenic coastal areas and clean sandy beaches located near downtown areas will add joyous memories to those who visit.
Busan Metropolitan City, also commonly referred to as Pusan, is the largest harbor city in Korea, with a population of about 4 million, Busan is South Korea's second largest metropolis next to Seoul. The densely populated city is situated in the narrow Nakdong River valley, with mountains separating some of the various districts. Busan is located at 35¡Æ6'10" North, 129¡Æ2'25" East (35.102778, 129.040278). [2]
Busan was the host city of the 2002 Asian Games and APEC 2005. It was also one of the host cities for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Governmentally, Busan is designated as a Metropolitan City in the southeast of South Korea. On November 14, 2005, the city officially announced its bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics Games.
Geumjeong Mountain to the west is a popular weekend hiking spot for Busan residents. To the north, the neighborhoods around Busan National University (also known as Pusan National University), which is one of the most leading high education institutes in Korea, sports student theaters, cafes, bars, restaurants and open air cultural street performances during some weekend. Tongdo-sa is one of the major 3 Buddhist temples in Korea. Beomeosa is also very important temple in Korean Buddhism.
Dongnae area is a traditional rich residential area. Dongnae Onchon is a natural spa area with many spas, tourist hotels, restaurants, clubs and shopping area. Many restaurants in the area is very famous with family recepe through generations. Chungyulsa is a Confucian shrine for soldiers during the battle on Dongnea castle against Japanese invasion on 18th century.
Busan is the so-called summer capital of Korea since it attracts tourists from all over the country to its six beaches. High class hotels and a carnival boardwalk line the Haeundae Beach district, which is generally regarded as the most beautiful beach in Korea. Gwangan Beach is famous for its cafes, bars and restaurants along the beach. Pukyung National University and cross the stress Kyungsung University area has many cafes, bars and restaurants attracting college students and youth.
Seomyeon is recognized as the new downtown with many cafes, bars, restaurants, shops and shopping centers.
The Gwangbok-dong and Nampo-dong areas form the old downtown with many cafes, bars, shops and restaurants. Some Some of the restaurants in the area is very famous with family recepe through generations. Jagalchi Market (near the very active port) is an area of narrow street stalls and is well known for its fish market. Taejongdae is a natural park with magnificant cliffs facing the open sea on the island of Youngdo.
The area known as the "Foreigners' Shopping Street", near the main docks, has many Russian businesses, that cater to the local Russian population, plus the crews of foreign ships. The area was originally known as the Foreigners' Street because so many businesses were set up there during the 1940s and 1950s to cater to American soldiers in the area. The Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority, one of two such administrations (the other in the harbor of Incheon), was created to continue the tradition of Busan's status as an international trading center. It is now attracting ships from all over the globe and is aspiring to become a regional financial center. In addition, Busan is internationally ranked as the third largest seaport in terms of cargo volume and efficiency by the AAPA.
Busan was one of the few area in Korea that remained under the control of South Korea throughout the Korean War and had been a capital for South Korea during Korean War. UN troops established a defensive perimeter around the city known as the Pusan perimeter in the summer and autumn of 1950. The city has been independent metropolis for a long time together with Seoul, and that has built strong city character rivaling Seoul.
Busan is famous for its passionate people and as an entertainment city. As an international habour city, Busan has adopting fast on new trends from abroad, especially from Japan.
Since 1982, the city has been home to the Lotte Giants, who play in the Korean baseball league. In Korea, Busan is known as the capital of baseball and has the reputation for very enthusiastic baseball fans and its unique and enthusiastic cheering style for its homeground team Lotte Giants.
The city is also home to K-League soccer side Busan I'park, Deawoo Unicorn, which was the strongest team during 90's in K-league.
Busan is also famous for the Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, which is the largest and most well-known international film festivals in Asia and attracts huge number of toursts from all over East Asia during the annual festival.
Geochilsan-guk existed in the 2nd century and the 3rd century as a nation included to Jinhan. Geochilsan-guk was absorbed by Silla and renamed Geochilsan-gun. The word Geochilsan means rough mountain. It is considered that it was named after the old name of Hwangryeong-san, located at the center of the city. In 757 Kochilsan-gun was again renamed Dongnae, which it is still called.
From the beginning of the 15th century onwards, the Korean government designated Busan as a trading port with the Japanese and allowed their settlement. Other Japanese settlements in Ulsan and Jinhae diminished later, but the Busan settlement, called Waegwan at the time, continued until Japan invaded Korea in 1592. After the war, diplomatic relations with the new shogunate in Japan were established in 1607, and Busan Waegwan was permitted to be reconstructed. The Japanese settlement, though relocated into Choryang later, continued to exist until Korea was exposed to modern diplomacy in 1876. In 1876, Busan became the first international port in Korea.
During the Japanese occupation, Busan developed into a hub trading port with Japan. Busan was also the only city in Korea to adopt the steam tramway before electrification was introduced in 1924.
Since 1978, Busan has opened three container ports including Jaseungdae, Shinsundae and Gamman. Busan is renowned as one of the world's three largest ports that can handle up to 6.44 million TEU shipping containers per year.
