About Incheon

The Michuhol region became a district of Goguryeo Kingdom under the reign of King Jangsu (475). The district was referred to as Maesohol-hyeon, until it was renamed Soseong-hyeon after the unification of the three kingdoms, under the rule of King Gyeongdeok. At the time of King Sukjong (1095-1105) of the Goryeo Dynasty, this area, which was the place of origin of the king’s maternal family, was granted a higher administrative status, and renamed Gyeongwon-gun. Subsequently, under the reign of King Injong (1122-1146), the place was again moved up the hierarchy of administrative division system, this time in honor of the Lee clan of Gyeongwon (Inju), the king’s mother’s family, and renamed Inju. Following the rebellion of Lee Ja-gyeom, the clan was severely weakened. In the 2nd year of King Gongyang (1390), Inju was discarded in favor of its earlier name, Gyeongwon-bu.

The region had a close tie to Goryeo’s royal house over seven successive reigns, garnering the nickname ‘Childaeeohyang’ (meaning literally ‘seven-generation royal homestead’).

This day is today commemorated in Incheon as Citizens’ Day.

A gateway to Northeast Asia with both international port and international airport in its hand, Incheon is located in the mid-west Korea peninsula abutting the Yellow Sea. A city located 28km from the nation’s capital, Seoul, lies at 126° 37´ of east longitude and 37° 28´ of north latitude. San Francisco, Washington, Madrid, and Teheran are found on the same latitude.

The Incheon area has a relatively dry climate. It is affected greatly by seasonal wind. The northwesterly wind hits the region in winter, while the southwesterly wind blows in summer. The average annual temperature is around 11.4°C, while the average temperature during the month of January is around 3.1°C below zero and that during the month of August is around 24.9°C. The difference over the year is 28°C.

The local GNP for Incheon is \25 trillion 517.7 billion, 4.7% of the national GNP. More than 1.2 million people in the region are participating in various economic activities. Incheon displays an urban-type industrial structure, which is characterized with the tertiary industry relatively larger than the primary or secondary industry. There are seven industrial complexes in the region, including Namdong and Bupyeong, which host more than 7,400 companies altogether.

Incheon was promoted to a city under direct government supervision on July 1, 1981. On January 1,1989, Gyeyang-myeon of Gimpo-gun and other districts of Gyeonggi-do Province, including Yeongjong-myeon and Yongyu-myeon of Ongjin-gun were merged into the city.

Incheon was then changed to a metropolitan city on January 1, 1995. On the following March 1, the entire area of Ganghwa-gun and Ongjin-gun as well as Geomdan-myeon of Gimpo-gun was added to the Incheon Metropolitan City.

The current administrative unit covers a total area of 986.45km², or 0.98% of the entire South Korea. It is made of eight districts, two counties, and 140 smaller units, including eup, myeon, and dong.

As of September 2017, the city has a total population of 3,008,552 with more than 1,183,886 households. Incheon is now rapidly developing into the third largest city in Korea, with Seoul and Busan being the first and the second largest, respectively.

Except for Mt. Manisan (469m) and Mt. Gyeyangsan (395m), most mountains in the Incheon area are not taller than 300m above the sea level. Since hilly mountains are well developed along the coast, there is only a limited size of flat landing the area. Among its streams, Gulpocheon, Cheongcheoncheon, and Gyesancheon flow into the Han-River, while others, including Sicheoncheon, Seunggicheon, Mansucheon, Jangsucheon, and Unyeoncheon, find their way to the Yellow Sea.

The Source of the Information : Incheon Metropolitan City

• Web : http://english.incheon.go.kr/