Pohang is a small city in Gyeongsangbuk-do located on the eastern side of the Korean peninsula. It takes about an hour and a half by bus from Daegu to Pohang. It is considered to be the city of guamegi, or half dried Pacific herring or Pacific saury. Pohang is well known for its big steel company, POSCO. Throughout history, Pohang has had a close relationship with Japan, which explains the existence of the Guryongpo Modern Culture and History Street composed of Japanese houses from the 1920s. There is also a lighthouse with its special reason for its construction. Pohang and the East Sea can provide you with numerous historical places to visit, sights to see and good food to eat.
Guryongpo is one of the towns around Pohang known as the town of guamegi. Captured Pacific herring and Pacific saury is repeatedly frozen and thawed by the winter wind, which somehow makes the fish chewy. It is what we call guamegi. During the winter, there is a Guamegi Festival with samples of guamegi that you can try from various guamegi stores. In the process of making Pacific herring and Pacific saury into guamegi, the fish gets richer in omega-3 fatty acids, which stimulate the regulation of metabolism in the human body.
Besides guamegi, Guryongpo has the sad traces of history in the form of a harbor the Japanese constructed in the Guryongpo coastal waters in the 1920s that provided places for big Japanese ships to anchor. From that time, the Japanese fishermen came over to Guryongpo, seized the fishing industry of the Koreans, and built traditional Japanese houses to live in. The Guryongpo Modern Culture and History Street consist of about 50 remaining houses from that time. There are stone stairs and pillars at the entrance to Guryongpo Park. All the stairs and stone pillars were built by the Japanese in 1944. The stone pillars were inscribed with the names of Japanese people who contributed to fostering the city of Guryongpo. However, they were subsequently covered with cement and engraved with the names of Korean donors who supported the establishment of Chunghongak, a place to enshrine patriotic Korean martyrs.
Have you heard about Homigot, or Homi Cape? One of the geologists during the Joseon Dynasty thought that the shape of the Korean Peninsula looked like a tiger claw with the Russian Maritime Province resembling its forepaw and Homigot taking up the tail part of the tiger. Homi, which means tiger (ho) and tail (mi) in Chinese, has a white lighthouse with a unique story of its birth. In 1907 a Japanese ship hit something and sank near Daebo-ri. The Japanese government blamed the Korean government for not having a lighthouse that would have prevented this accident, so the Korean government had to construct the Homigot Lighthouse, as well as pay compensation for the damages.
Near the lighthouse is the National Lighthouse Museum. At the Lighthouse Museum, you can see the tools used to mark the seaway such as lighthouse lanterns and panes, the living conditions of lighthouse keepers, the history of world beacons, and historical sources like navigation manuals. Also the National Lighthouse Museum provides an experience center that lets you experience a lighthouse on a dark night like a sailor would have, send Morse code and learn about alternative energy. There are many more things too see that are related to lighthouses and the ocean.
POSCO takes up a lot of land in Pohang for its industry and factories. Among them is the POSCO Museum that explains everything about POSCO, as well as the history of steel in Korea from the 3rd century BCE. In order to be free from poverty and to make a rich and powerful nation, former president Park Tae-joon established POSCO in April 1968. The museum has the models of many historical places used by POSCO, including Rommel House, which was used as the construction headquarters.
Anybody can feel that Pohang is a city of the sea. It has a very close connection to and relationship with the sea, including seafood, factories, and a special section where the Japanese who controlled the city lived. Pohang is quite a small city where you can travel easily by buses. Experiencing many things in a limited time in Pohang will provide you with great satisfaction compared to the time you put into the trip.
