Samhakdo Island

Samhakdo Island, Mokpo On the sea in front of Mokpo, Jeollanam-do Province, there exists Samhakdo Island, which was reclaimed in the 1960s into land, and it still contains the intact modern history of Mokpo. In the past, it was a park-like island where people used to go over by boat to pledge their love but it has become what it is now after reclamation and renovation. Sitting where the three little peaks meet the sea and the river, the island is considered a representative scenic spot of Mokpo along with Yudalsan. Samhakdo railway, which connects Mokpo Station and Samhakdo, actually branches out to various lines such as the Hangukjebun Line, Seoktanbudu Line and Samhak Line. However, the main line started at Mokpo Station and ran toward Samhakdo, which is why people often called it “Samhakdo Coal Railroad.” Samhakdo Island, which had been flattened due to reclamation and reckless development, began belated restoration work in 2004, and much of it has now been returned to the Mokpo citizens. This interesting railroad is now undergoing a construction to become a park. Recently, the “Forest of Gyeongbuk Province Residents” is being established, thus becoming a symbol of harmony and coexistence of Youngnam and Honam Regions. In fact, the Forest of Jeonnam Province Residents was created in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do while the Forest of Gyeongbuk Province Residents was established in Samhakdo for harmony, exchanges and cooperation between the east and the west.Each forest is a symbolic place of harmony established over a 15,000m² area where provincial trees and flowers were planted, under the theme of Gudongjoni, which means to respect differences and to seek for things to be together. There is also the Kim Dae-jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial nearby, which you can stop by for a tour as well.

Samhakdo Island, Mokpo - Samhakdo Cruise Samhakdo Cruise that will fill the Mokpo sea with romance Welcome everyone to Samhakdo Cruise! Samhakdo Cruise held a sailing ceremony on June 12, 2020 and started its operation by departing from the old Mokpo Coast Guard Wharf and crossing Naehang. This is a 969-ton cruise ship that is the most advanced and largest of its kind in Korea, and its capacity is 578 passengers. Now, let me introduce to you the convenience facilities that can be used during the voyage. Restrooms to answer an urgent call of nature are located in the back on the floor of the main ship, and snack bars selling sweets for people and Saewookkang for seagulls are located by the stairs on the 2nd and 3rd floors. If you want to sing a song while floating on the Mokpo night sea, a karaoke room is available on the 3rd floor. Also, if you want to dance by any chance, there is a banquet hall on the 1st floor where you can dance with Gakseori, or a Korean gypsy. When the ship departs, the excitement towards the sea is felt and everyone's heart would beat like the sound of an exhaust pipe. Is your heart pounding as well? The ship travels for about an hour and a half through 9 piers and 5 tour zones, which are Samhakdo Zone, Yudalsan Zone, Gohado Zone, Peace Square Zone and Gatbawi Zone, before returning to the port. From April to November, you can watch 〈Dancing Sea Fountain〉, located in front of Peace Square, from the ship. It is the world’s first-ever sea fountain and is also listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The Dancing Sea Fountain offers an even more fantastic enjoyment since, from the ship, you can watch the front and sides of the fountain three-dimensionally. Carrying not just passengers but also the culture, Samhakdo Cruise is equipped with friendly and comfortable convenience facilities for both Koreans and foreigners to visit and enjoy the global port of Mokpo, and also presents the locals with relaxation and delightful memories as a soul-recharging station in the city. Moreover, Samhakdo Cruise hosts various cultural and artistic performances to rewrite the history of Mokpo tourism on the sea. Now, please enjoy the Samhakdo Cruise trip that will fill the waters of Mokpo with romance.

Mokpo Children's Sea Science Museum Mokpo Children’s Sea Science Museum opened on February 5, 2013 with the goal to provide hands-on education on marine science to children, thus promoting scientific thinking and fostering future leaders of the 21st-century marine age. As the only sea science museum for children in the country, it features five major exhibition spaces under the theme of “sea”. Now, shall we start our tour on the first floor? 〈VR Sea Imagination Hall〉, simply speaking, is a digital sea. The submarine at the entrance produces lighting effects and sounds of machinery and its submergence, thus offering children a chance to feel as if they are diving deep into the waters. This is to stimulate their infinite imagination regarding the sea. Once you enter the hall after passing by the submarine, you can feel the free life of the sea creatures, microorganisms, and those that live deep in the sea near Mokpo. VR Underwater Scooters spark the imagination and excitement through undersea exploration, jellyfish-hunting, shipwreck shark-hunting and treasure hunts. The VR Undersea Exploration Riders piques children’s curiosity of the sea with scenes that make them feel as if they were actually in a submarine and roaming through the sea. Also, a variety of activities can be experienced such as underwater life rescue, boss war, riders and rank system. 〈Deep Sea Exhibition〉is a space where you can understand underwater topography below 1,000m deep, living organisms around hydrothermal vents, exploration of underwater minerals, deep-sea submarine activities, and water pressure and depth. You may also watch them with your eyes and touch them with your hands. It enables you to control unmanned exploration ships and robotic arms for a virtual experience of collecting unlimited undersea resources in the Korean sea. Also, through the three deep-sea submarines to be used in scanning the mysteries of the deep sea, it helps you to experience how deep a person can dive and how high the water pressure and low the water temperature gets as you dive deeper. 〈Sea Eye Dome〉is a place where children can touch, see and feel the mud flat. Moving onto the second floor, 〈Midsea Exhibition〉is a disphotic zone of the sea where light is dimly coming in between 200 and 1,000m under water. The reason why it is called a disphotic zone is that there are squids, jellyfish, etc. that use little amounts of light to camouflage. The Midsea Exhibition explains the kinds and living conditions of marine algae and offers a chance for children to experience puzzles involving the fish, scenes in which skate and tuna swim, and hunting of comb jellyfish, which catches food by shooting nets. 〈Shallow Sea Exhibition〉 is a photic zone about 200m below the surface of the sea to which light comes in. You can experience the sea environment and understand the infinite sea energy such as low and high tides and the causes of their creation, the power of waves, ebb and flow of the tide, and the principle of electricity generated when high waves occur. And you may also get on the model of the yacht, even moving the anchor yourselves to discharge the wind and feel the pressure; or you can experience the virtual Dadohaehaesang National Park on the wig ship model, which will be the high-tech water transportation in the future. In the 〈4D Theater〉, you can join in on the adventure of the representative fish species in the Mokpo sea, including the yellow Corvina, red sea-bream and mottled skate, to travel off to the distant waters to save their friends in crisis in the deep sea. Why don’t you experience the diverse sea ecosystem here and learn how precious friendship and courage are? Now, take your time and enjoy the Sea Science Museum!

Kim Dae Jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial Welcome to the Kim Dae Jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial. The memorial is designed as a building that symbolizes the five oceans and the six continents. The six protruded parts when you look from the outside symbolize the six continents, and the area filled with water is called Ullim Pond, which was constructed to represent the five oceans. The entire architecture holds the hope that President Kim Dae-jung’s spirit of peace spreads to the five oceans and the six continents of the world. Kim Dae Jung Nobel Peace Prize Memorial was opened on June 15, 2013, on the day of June 15th North-South Joint Declaration. On the first floor, you will see the state car that the late President Kim Dae-jung used after his retirement. if you look at the license plate of the car, it says 1987. Let’s think about the meaning of this number. 1987 is the year in which not only his long-term house arrest was lifted after six years in prison and two exiles in Japan and the U.S. but also the democratic uprising took place. Now, let’s move to Exhibition Hall 1. The video that is playing right now is the one that captured scenes from the actual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and this exhibition hall is a miniaturized reproduction of Oslo City Hall, Norway where the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony was held. Do you see the picture on the certificate of the award? The contents of this picture change every year depending on the award winner and show a summary of reasons why the person has been chosen for the prize. There are two main reasons that President Kim Dae-jung was selected for the Nobel Peace Prize. The first was his efforts in improving human rights in Korea and East Asia, and the second was his work in promoting reconciliation and cooperation between the two Koreas. If you take a closer look at the picture of the certificate, the shape of the road on which the two people are standing embodies a map of the Korean Peninsula. The difference in color between the bottom and the top symbolizes the division of Korea, and the use of red symbolizes the Sunshine Policy. The one dressed in white and the other dressed in black represent the leaders of two the Koreas. Since black and white respectively symbolize good and evil in the view of Westerners and North Korea was widely viewed as evil that used nuclear weapons to threaten world peace, perhaps that is why the North Korean leader is displayed in black. Finally, the branch on the side embodies a dove and symbolizes peace. The Exhibition Hall 2 exhibits about Nobel and the Nobel Prize, and Exhibition Hall 3 displays President Kim’s biography and activities as a politician so please take your time to look around. The Exhibition Hall 4 explains about the reconciliation of the North and the South as well as the Sunshine Policy, which helped the president receive the Nobel Peace Prize. There is an episode from his first trip by a South Korean president to Pyongyang since the Korean War. The movements of heads or guests of state are tightly planned in minutes, and accurate understanding of such movements is directly related to national security. On the way to Pyongyang Baekhwawon banquet hall, President Kim Dae-jung and Chairman of the National Defense Commission Kim Jong-il were supposed to move separately in their owns vehicles. However, as Chairman Kim decided to ride in President Kim's car, the predetermined plan faced serious issues.As a result, South Korea issued the highest emergency alert equivalent to that of an imminent war, and it was said that a situation on the verge of a war was actually generated. As he revealed through an interview later on, this was the most nervous moment in his life, according to President Kim, even more than numerous near-deaths he had experienced up to that point. Unlike President Kim who was quite strained, however, it is said that Chairman Kim actually tried to be humorous to ease the tension that President Kim was feeling. Now, hope you have a great time at the memorial hall.

Harbor Pocha There is an old saying that the bird who has eaten is the best. Now, shall we look around the Mokpo Harbor Pocha and enjoy a variety of dishes together? When Mokpo was selected as one of the four tourist hub cities nationwide, the city declared itself as 〈Mokpo, the City of Taste〉 in 2019 and opened the Harbor Pocha in Samhakdo in 2020. So why was Mokpo proclaimed as the City of Taste? First off, you all probably know that Jeollado is the most famous region in Korea in terms of food. This was the case during the Joseon Dynasty as well. In ≪Domun Daejak≫ written by Heo Gyun that evaluates foods from all over Joseon, the ingredients and tastes of Jeollado food are considered as the best. But Mokpo, especially, is located close to both the West and South Seas and, also, can conveniently be supplied with agricultural produce from other parts of Jeollado, which made the city famous since the old times as where a generous amount of inexpensive foods and all kinds of delicacies would nearly break the legs of the dinner tables. Notable dishes of Mokpo include Hongeo Samhap, or fermented skate and steamed pork slices served with kimchi; Nakji Tangtangi, or sliced raw octopus; Kkkotge Muchim, or seasoned crabs; and Junchi Muchim, or seasoned slender shad. You may be a bit unfamiliar with “Junchi Muchim,” though, right? You probably all know of an old saying, “Junchi is still better even if it is rotten.” Junchi is called Jineo or Sieo in Chinese letters, which mean that all the fish other than Junchi is fake. Taste-wise, you would agree that Junchi is the only real fish; if you enjoy the lustrous Junchi with a kick of sourness, there is nothing better to stimulate your appetite. But it does have a lot of tough bones so you must be careful when you eat it. There is more to enjoy at Harbor Pocha than just food. The sunset at the harbor is a well-known spectacle and, near the Harbor Pocha entrance, there is a deck from which you can get on the Samhakdo Cruise to enjoy the sea breeze and nightscape after dinner. Now, take full advantage of the great food and beautiful night scenery at Harbor Pocha!