The Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region (), centered on the harbor cities of

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

and

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

, is the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

's second largest metropolitan area in terms of population and is the second-most developed region as well. It is also an

industrial region {{Unreferenced, date=October 2010 Industrial region or industrial area refers to a geographical region with extremely dense Industrial sector, industry. It is usually heavily urbanization, urbanized. Brazil *ABCD Region, sometimes called ABC (AB ...

for shipbuilding, international trade, and heavy industries, such as car making and chemical production.

Industries

The Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region is one of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

's chief industrial centers. Only the Capital Metropolitan Area, located around

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

, is more advanced. This region began to grow as an international centre for commerce and industrial power in the late 1970s, during which the South Korean government began to introduce national development plans to spur the South Korean industry. The results were shocking: within a decade, small fishing wharfs like

and

grew into densely populated cities with over two million people each. Meanwhile, industries like car manufacturing and shipbuilding, never heard of before in South Korea, progressed ahead with ferocious speed. Today, the Southeastern Maritime Industrial Region is made up of several industrial cities, all with a special local industry. Ulsan, Geoje, and Busan, all major international ports, especially the latter, which is the world's third largest trading harbor in terms of total cargo volume, specialize in car manufacturing and shipbuilding. For instance, in 1999, Korean shipbuilding companies based here, such as

Hyundai Heavy Industries Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI; ) is the world's largest shipbuilding company and a major heavy equipment manufacturer. Its headquarters are in Ulsan, South Korea. History HHI was founded in 1972 by Chung Ju-yung as a division of th ...

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

Heavy Industries overtook

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese shipbuilding firms as the world's best

. Especially in Ulsan, where heavy industries make up most of the city's revenue, Hyundai Auto and other automobile companies are slowly taking leading positions in the global society. In other cities, such as

Pohang Pohang () is a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River. The city is divided into t ...

and

Changwon Changwon () is the capital city of Gyeongsangnam-do, on the southeast coast of South Korea. With a population of 1.07 million , Changwon is South Korea's ninth-most populous city. A port city, Changwon is bordered by Masan Bay to the south, ...

, steel and oil refining is particularly advanced. Pohang itself is the seat of

POSCO POSCO (formerly Pohang Iron and Steel Company) is a South Korean steel-making company headquartered in Pohang, South Korea. It had an output of of crude steel in 2015, making it the world's fourth-largest steelmaker by this measure. In 2010, i ...

, the Korean steel giant, while Changwon is the capital of

South Gyeongsang South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

Province. Finally, in Gimhae and Gyeongju, tourism is very popular, as Gyeongju was the ancient capital of the

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms o ...

Kingdom, while Gimhae was the capital of the Gaya Kingdom.

References

{{coord missing, South Korea Geography of South Korea Metropolitan areas of South Korea Geography of Busan Geography of Ulsan Geography of South Gyeongsang Province

Industries

See also

References