Mokpo Modern History Museum

Mokpo Gatbawi

Old Consulate of Japan in Mokpo

Tourism of Mokpo

Museums

Museums in Mokpo are mostly located near Gatbawi street. The city concentrated its ability to invest researching and exhibiting space along this area. National maritime museum is one of the oldest and the only organ for having capacity to restore traditional way of navigation and types of Korean traditional ship. The official terminology of the organ was changed in 2009 as the Research institute for maritime history in 2009 to supplement some functions of the center. The reasons can be explicable in that Yellow sea has been the trade route between Chinese culture and Korean peninsula having large relics and stances of cultural exchange since three kingdoms period in early historic period.


Mokpo Natural history museum possesses the large number of relics having several exhibition rooms holding fossils from all over the world. Originally started as one building, it incorporated the cultural heritage hall as its wing to take local relics since prehistoric years. The museum has worked on collecting samples and data of organisms from the fossils of dinosaurs to insects and cetaceans found in Yellow sea. In terms of dinosaurs, the nest of eggs, found in Aphae island, was restored and disclosed to public in 2010. The length of egg reach more than 40 cm respectively, proved to be dated 80 million years ago, during Mesozoic period. Korea Forest Service chose the museum as the organ of recording its samples of insects in national database for biological resources in 2009.

Mokpo Ceramic Museum opened its hall in 2008 on the basis of supports from the government to set up ceramics, largely based on modern usuage and invited chinaware from the notable manufacturers. Meanwhile, Literature hall of Mokpo (in Hangul:목포문학관) is not far from the ceramic museum to host literature class for general public taking features writer or novels, helping growth of local demands for lifelong learning. The program of facility gains aides from Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism since 2010, visiting schools to inform local history of writing and literature.

Yudal Mountain

Yudal Mountain(in Hangul:유달산, in Hanja:儒達山) is the mountain located at Mokpo city, Jeollanam-do of South Korea(228m). It belongs to the 8 sceneries of the city as a symbol and pride. At the summit, thousand of islands can be seen with several hills of weird looking rocks. The nickname of the mountain is Mountain Gaegol, which refers to Mountain Geumgang in North Korea called during summer. 3 highest peaks are called first, second and madang bawi(rock). The momumental limestone lies within the mountain ; the first is celebrating General Yi Soon Shin, the other for famous singer Lee Nan Young.

The city has brought up the project of city of light, while the mountain also gained shed of nightlights whole around its flora. It has provoked critical rebukement from civil organizations to stop the contaminated pollution of lights for fauna. For example, association of environment in Gwangju and Jeollanamdo chose this incident as the 10th worst attack for environment in 2006.

Yudal Mt. Flower festival annually holds event in April or May to call for many people. The spectacle seats when climbing on the summit to look over Dadohaehaesang National Park with hundreds of islands within the scope. The height(228m) is not the high whereas the sunset gained quite fame.

Another fame heads to the first built sculpture-theme park in South Korea. In 1982, the park was initiated for outdoor exhibition to attract several donations or lease from the artists. The expiration provoked crisis for the existence of itself, bringing up the city's efforts to persuade other artists and propel the deals. In 2008, the subjects of 'Nature, Culture and Sculpture' was chosen to represent the emblems of Mokpo.
To the proximity, the halls for ecology and oriental orchids have opened to public.

Overview of Mokpo

Mokpo (Mokpo-si) is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, located at the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Mokpo has frequent train service to Seoul and is the terminus for a number of ferry routes serving islands in the adjacent Yellow Sea and Dadohae National Maritime Park. The port of Mokpo is not far from Yudal mountain.
During the Japanese Occupation (1910–1945), Mokpo served as a crucial port for both commercial ventures and transportation, owing to its convenient location along the sea routes between the Japanese archipelago and the Chinese mainland. The large number of islands surrounding Mokpo have also served as a protective barrier, making the city less vulnerable to high tides and tsunami. During Japanese occupation, the city had large residential areas, which are now the city's historic districts, to accommodate the Japanese colonists. However, after the end of World War II, and following Korea's independence in 1945, the city slowly lost its position as a host to major government organizations and wartime industries. Mokpo's shortage of secondary industries and thus jobs caused a serious population drain. As a result, it was reduced to a mid-sized city of the Honam region.

Former president Kim Dae-jung earned full support from Mokpo's electorates during the presidential election in 1997, while other political rivals were accused of attempting to underdevelop the city in order to decrease its population. The city has attempted to improve its status in South Jeolla province, in spite of facing economic depression and complaints of many residents in the original downtown section.

Etymology

The term Mokpo (木浦 in Hanja) literally translates as "the harbour with a large portion of forests." This terminology initially appeared in the Goryeosa (History of Goryeo). Therefore, some historians argue that the city's name referred to trees within the region of the port of Mokpo. Another theory suggests that the "mok" in the city's name refers to "the throat," implying that Mokpo is as important to the Yellow Sea as the throat is to a human being. This theory alludes to the region's large production of cotton, which was allotted by Japanese colonists for delivery to Tokyo.