Economy of Cheju

Economy

The Jeju economy has traditionally been supported by primary industry, agriculture and fishing, but tourism has taken a more and more important role as the island receives upwards of six million visitors per year. These are mostly Korean mainlanders but through the opening of the 2010 decade hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists have been arriving and the number is increasing.
In 2006, the GDP of the province was projected at 8.5 trillion won (about US$8.5 billion), approximately 15 million won per capita. The provincial government's budget for 2006 was projected at 1.1 trillion won, an increase of 10% over 2005.
Jeju is also a home for key functions of Daum Communications,a leading Korean internet site, and sole owner of Lycos until August, 2010.
Jeju is also famous for hosting many conferences and international meetings, including the World Scout Conference in July 2008. Jeju has its own international convention center called ICC Jeju. The ASEAN-KOREA Commemorative Summit 2009 was held at ICC Jeju.

In 2010, the South Korean central government tasked Jeju Island to develop itself as an international Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions destination, and since then, the island has hosted a number of notable events such as the 10,000-pax China Baozhen Group incentive and 8,000-pax Amway (South) Korea incentive. In 2010, the destination welcomed 67 events, enabling it to reach 27th spot globally and seventh in Asia in the UIA ranking of global meetings destinations.

Myths and legends of Cheju

Myths and legends

The myth of Seulmundae Halmang is well known in Jeju. According to this myth, Seulmundae Halmang (Grandmother Seulmundae) could reach from Sung San Ill Chul Bong to Guan Tal island at Aeweol in a single stride, and with two strides to Mount Halla. She was very strong, had 500 children, and built Mount Halla with seven scoops of earth.
One day, Seulmundae Halmang was making soup for her sons while they were out hunting. While they were gone, she fell into the pot and drowned. On their return, they hungrily ate the soup, without knowing that it contained their mother. However, the youngest son knew. He told the truth to the rest of the sons, and the whole family cried, and eventually turned into 500 stones.

Cuisine of Cheju

Cuisine

Jeonbokjuk, abalone porridge

Jeju Island is the southernmost and largest island isolated from the Korean peninsula. Due to its lack of fresh water, paddy farming is only done on a small scale on the island, with the cultivation of cereal crops such as millet, barnyard millet, buckwheat, and barley being the main feature of agriculture. Therefore, the traditional Jeju meal generally consists of japgokbap which is a bowl of steamed multiple grains as a main dish, with various salted dried fish called jaban as banchan (side dishes), and a soup based on doenjang (soybean paste) such as baechuguk made with Napa cabbage, kongnipguk made with soybean leaves, or muguk made with daikon. Jeju dishes are made with simple ingredients, and the taste is generally salty. Raw seafood called hae is commonly consumed as a part of the meal. The warm weather affects Jeju cuisine in that gimjang, preparing kimchi in late autumn for winter consumption, is not necessary to Jeju, as it is in the other provinces. Only a small amount of kimchi is pickled by Jeju locals. Representative main dishes in Jeju cuisine are porridge made with fish, seafood, seaweeds, or mushrooms. Examples include jeonbokjuk made with abalone, okdomjuk made with Red tilefish, gejuk made with crabs, gingijuk made with small crabs called bangge (Helice tridens), maeyeoksae juk made with young wakame, and chogijuk made with shiitake.


Gamgyul is a type of orange similar to the Mandarin orange or tangerine, commonly harvested in Jeju island. Black pig is a delicacy on the island as well. Black pigs are famous for their black hair and their meat for its chewy texture. The meat is nutritious but does not have the unique smell of pork. Black pigs other notable features are their long faces, narrow snouts and small ears that stand up.

Society and culture of Cheju

Society and culture

Dol hareubang.

Because of the relative isolation of the island, the people of Jeju have developed a culture and language that are distinct from those of mainland Korea. Jeju is home to thousands of local legends. Perhaps the most distinct cultural artifact is the ubiquitous dol hareubang ("stone grandfather") carved from a block of basalt.
Another distinct aspect of Jeju is the matriarchal family structure, found especially in Udo and Mara, but also present in the rest of the province. The best-known example of this is found among the haenyeo ("sea women"), who were often the heads of families, because they controlled the income. They earned their living from free diving, often all year round in quite cold water, without scuba gear, in order to harvest abalones, conchs, and a myriad of other marine products. It is thought that women are better at spending all day deep-water diving because they resist cold better. However, because of rapid economic development and modernization, few haenyeo are still actively working today.

Bangsatap

Bangsatap are small, round towers made of many stones. There are many Bangsataps and you can see them near the countryside in Jeju. People usually pile up many stones, making a shape like a tower in order to protect themselves from the bad luck in their village. They built Bangsatap according to the theory of divination because they believe that geography is very important in choosing the right place for them. It is also a good example to demonstrate religious belief in Jeju island because it is an object in which people put faith: people put a rice paddle inside the Bangsatap to gather as much money as possible, as well as an iron pot to overcome disaster and fight fire in their village. Nobody knows that when the Bangsatap was built over the year previous.

Geography,Administrative divisions of Cheju

 

Aerial photograph of Jeju Island.

Geograph
Jeju Island is a volcanic island, dominated by Halla-san (Halla Mountain): a volcano 1,950 metres (6,400 ft) high and the highest mountain in South Korea. The island measures approximately 73 kilometres (45 mi) across, east to west, and 41 kilometres (25 mi) from north to south.
The island was created entirely from volcanic eruptions approximately 2 million years ago, during the time period extending from the Tertiary to the beginning of the Quaternary period, and consists chiefly of basalt and lava. The eruptions took place in the Cenozoic era. It has a humid subtropical climate, warmer than that of the rest of Korea, with four distinct weather seasons. Winters are cool and dry while summers are hot, humid, and sometimes rainy.


There is a crater lake which is the only crater lake in South Korea.
An area covering about 12% (224 square kilometres or 86 square miles) of Jeju is known as Gotjawal Forest. This area remained uncultivated until the 21st century, as its base of ʻAʻā lava made it difficult to develop for agriculture. Because this forest remained pristine for so long, it has a unique ecology. The forest is the main source of groundwater and thus the main water source for the half millon people of the island, because rainwater penetrates directly into the aquifer through the cracks of the ʻAʻā lava under the forest. Gotjawal forest is considered an internationally important wetland under the Ramsar Convention by some researchers because it is the habitat of unique species of plants and is the main source of water for the residents, although to date it has not been declared a Ramsar site.

Administrative divisions

Modern

Japan took Korea over forcefully in 1910. In 1915 the gun or county system which had been adopted in 1906 was abolished and Jeju island was designated as part of the 'island' system and called Jeju myeon under South Jeolla province. In 1931, Jeju-myeon was raised to the status of Jeju-eup or 'township' which gave the island one township (today's Jeju-si area) and 12 'myeon'.
On September 1, 1955, Jeju Township was elevated to city status with 40 administrative wards which on January 1, 1962, were reduced to 14 wards. On July 8, 1956, Seogwi, Daejeong and Hallim-myeons were raised to the status of townships while the southwestern portion of Hallim Township was separated and newly designated as the Hankyeong district(myeon) which gave the province one city, two counties, three townships and 10 myeon or districts with 14 wards in Jeju City. May 23, 1979 saw the restructuring of the Jeju-si wards and the addition of three more, giving 17 wards.

Current

Until 2005, Jeju Province was divided into two cities (si), Jeju and Seogwipo, and two counties (gun), Bukjeju (North Jeju) and Namjeju (South Jeju) respectively. The two cities were further divided into thirty-one neighbourhoods (dong), while the two counties were divided into seven towns (eup) and five districts (myeon). The seven towns and five districts were in turn divided into 551 villages (ri).
In 2005, Jeju residents approved, by referendum, a proposal to merge Bukjeju County into Jeju City, and Namjeju County into Seogwipo City. Effective 1 July 2006, the province was also renamed Jeju Special Autonomous Province with two nominal subdivisions, Jeju City and Seogwipo City. In addition to the changes in name, the province was given extensive administrative powers that had previously been reserved for the central government. This is part of plans to turn Jeju into a "Free International City".
Jeju, on 1 July 2006, was made into the first and only special autonomous province of South Korea
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheju-do

Early history

Cheonjiyeon Waterfall on Jeju Island

Waves crashing on Jeju seashore

Halla Mountain in Jeju

Cheonjiyeon Waterfall in Jeju

According to legend, three demi-gods emerged from Samsung-hyeol which is said to have been on the northern slopes of Mt. Halla and became the progenitors of the Jeju people who founded the Kingdom of Tamna.

It has also been claimed that three brothers—including Ko-hu—who were the 15th descendants of Koulla, one of the Progenitors of the Jeju people, were received by the court of Silla, at which time [when?] the name Tamna was officially recognized, while the official government posts of Commander, Prince and Governor were conferred by the court upon the three. However, there is no concrete evidence of when the "Three Names" (Samseong-Ko, Yang and Pu) appeared nor for the exact date of when Ko-hu and his brothers were received by Silla. It may be supposed that the "Three Names" Founding Period occurred during the Three Kingdoms (Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla) Period on the mainland of Korea.

Taejo, founder of Goryeo, attempted to establish the same relationship between Goryeo and Tamna as Tamna had had with Silla. Tamna refused to accept this position and the Goryeo court dispatched troops to force Tamna to submit. Ko ja-gyeon, chief of Tamna, submitted to Goryeo in 938 and sent his son, Prince Mallo, to Goryeo's court as a de facto hostage. In 1105 (King Sukjong's 10th year), the Goryeo court abolished the name Takna which had been used up to this time and, from that year on, the island was known as "Tamna-gun" (district) and Goryeo officials were sent to handle the affairs of the island.

Tamna-country was changed to Tamna-county in 1153 during the reign of King Uijong and Choi Cheok-kyeong was posted as Tamna-Myeong or Chief of Tamna. In 1121 during Huijong's reign, Tamna was renamed "Jeju" and the posts of Judiciary were established on the island.
In 1271, General Kim Tong-jeong escaped with what remained of his Sambyeolcho force from Jindo and built the Hangpadu Fortress at Kwiil-chon from where they continued their fight against the combined Korean government-Mongolian army but within two years, faced by an enemy army of over 10,000 troops, the Sambyeolcho was annihilated.

Modern history

Jeju Uprising, 1948

Main article: Jeju Uprising

On April 3, 1948, against a background of an ongoing ideological struggle for control of Korea and a variety of grievances held by islanders against the local authorities, the many communist sympathizers on the island attacked police stations and government offices. The brutal and often indiscriminate suppression of the leftist rebellion resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of both villagers and communist radicals and the imprisonment of thousands more in internment camps.

While claims have been made that the US government oversaw and supported "anti-communist" activities administratively if not openly in the field, validation remains to be made. It is a fact the US was heavily involved in counter-insurgence operations across Korea at this time leading up to the Korean War and UN involvement. Similarly, the Northwest Youth League, a Korean government sponsored watchdog group made up of refugees who had fled North Korea, actively repressed any and all "communist sympathizers" with a campaign of shooting on sight anyone entering or leaving the president's "enemy zone" and using open, armed violence and what would be labeled today as terrorist activities. This led to the deaths of hundreds of islanders, with many other islanders being raped and tortured. Intolerance by mainland Korean officials of islanders in general at the time, government- and organization-sponsored isolation of the island and a rumored cover-up of evidence linking the rebellion's suppressors with foreign powers and people who have gone unprosecuted is believed to be the primary cause of public ignorance, hedging on denial, over the April 3, 1948 genocide on Cheju-do. A documentary by the BBC and PBS, Korea: The Unknown War and many activities and publications, including Sun-i Samch'on by Hyun Ki Young, by organizations and persons from within Cheju-do and around the world continue to attempt shedding the light on this event. The Uprising has become a symbol of Jeju's Independence from Korean Peninsula.
The provincial administrative building was burned to the ground in September 1948 and a new building was completed in 1-do, 2-dong in December, 1952.

Construction of a naval base

Further information: Jeju-do Naval Base

In June 2007, the Korean government selected Gangjeong, a village on the southern coast of the island, as the site of a $970 million naval base. The base is to house twenty warships, including submarines.
In January 2010, the South Korean Navy signed two contracts with two construction firms to build pier facilities.;construction began in January 2011. By August, about 14 percent of the contract had been spent on initial construction work, but significant progress had not been made due to local resistance to the base.
Trying to prevent dredging and bulldozing, residents of Gangjeong have been living in tents in and near areas where construction is planned or ongoing. In addition to protests, the villagers have filed lawsuits to try to block construction and have widely publicized their opposition.

Before the Japanese annexation in 1910, the island was usually known as Quelpart to Europeans. The name apparently came from the first European ship to spot the island, the Dutch Quelpaert, which sighted it after being blown off course on its way to the Dutch trading base in Nagasaki, Japan, from Taiwan (then the Dutch colony of Formosa).

When Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, Jeju then became known as Saishū, which is the Japanese reading of the hanja for Jeju.
Before 2000, when the Seoul government changed the official Romanization of Hangul, Jeju-do was spelled Cheju-do. Almost all written references to the island before that use that spelling.